Why Kyoto Failed and Bali Must Not

Photo: Dita Alangkara / AP Photo

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The nations that ratified the Kyoto Protocol marked an illusory decrease in emissions since 1990 that, as the Los Angeles Times points out, was wholly due to the total political and economic collapse of the Soviet Union.

The United States, which up until this year was the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, never ratified the treaty, and China, now the world's leader, along with India, Indonesia and other high-polluting developing nations, wasn't asked to take action in exchange for signing the treaty. Australia, another top industrialized polluter, only signed the treaty this weekend, a decade after other signatories, leaving the U.S. as the only major industrialized nation to avoid the world agreement. (Despite opting out, the United States saw emissions grow at a lower rate than many European nations.)

Meanwhile, the evidence that scientists are right about global warming and wrong only about the pace of change (faster than predicted) continues to mount. The latest bit of evidence: The tropics have expanded in the past 25 years to a point not expected until the end of this century, shoving the subtropical zone ahead of it, as the temperate region makes inroads in the Arctic.

Which is why Bali must show more success than Kyoto. A new protocol isn't expected in Bali, but the groundwork for the next treaty will be laid out. The United States has proved, over the past 200-plus years, to be the most consistently ingenious innovator in the areas of science and technology. We continue to be a leader in the studying of climate change, but the free market hasn't produced clean energy innovations at a pace that is keeping up with changes in the weather. Finding a scheme that satisfies our capitalistic impulse while marshaling our ingenuity is an important measure of success we can look for out of Bali. It's one big reason Kyoto failed.

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