KYOTO: FRENCH MEDIA REACT TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 001004

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL SENV ENRG KPAO FR
SUBJECT: KYOTO: FRENCH MEDIA REACT TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
PROTOCOL

1. Summary. The implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, which
takes effect today, dominates headlines in the French print
press, and is the focus of a number of special reports,

supplements and editorials. Embassy Paris offers this analysis of
the principal themes in the coverage over the last two days,
especially as the press notes President Chirac's intention to
raise the issue with President Bush in Brussels next week.
Commentaries reiterate that after years of negotiation, the
Protocol is finally being implemented despite the refusal of the
world's primary polluter, the U.S., not to ratify it. They
emphasize the notion that the U.S. chose unilaterally not to
ratify the Protocol for purely economic reasons. Other
journalists, commentators and specialists do cast doubts on the
real difference that this treaty can make in reducing global
greenhouse gas emissions, and accept the legitimacy of the U.S.
reasons. These commentaries, nevertheless, also often highlight
the Protocol's importance as symbol, and deplore the loss of a
unified position among the world's most developed nations on an
issue of global consequence. The February 16 edition of left-of-
center Le Monde highlights President Chirac's proposal not only
to achieve the goals set out by the Kyoto Protocol by 2012, but
to go beyond them: "Jacques Chirac is determined to involve the
U.S. in developing a strategy to save the environment even if Mr.
Bush has shown that he is unconcerned by the issue. [But]
American companies are realizing that it will be difficult to
continue on their own in a world that is for the most part
controlled by the Protocol." End summary.

FEBRUARY 15 PRESS:


2. Right-of-center Le Figaro, which often criticized the U.S.
refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, prominently placed an op-ed
by the Danish environmentalist and renowned Kyoto Protocol
skeptic, Bjorn Lomborg, on the eve of the implementation of the
treaty. Lomborg, who is the editor of "Global Crises, Global
Solutions" and author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist," penned
"Kyoto: A False Priority" which was translated into French by Le
Figaro. Lomborg stressed that "even if the whole world
(including the United States) applied the [Kyoto] Protocol to the
letter for the duration of the 21st century, the effects would be
practically insignificant. Kyoto is an expensive way to not do
much for people who will continue to get rich in the future."


3. Economic center-right Les Echos announced an interview with
the European Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, on
its front-page. In the interview, Mr. Dimas insisted that the
U.S. needs to be "brought back to the negotiating table on
climate change" and hopes that this issue "will be on the agenda"
during President Bush's visit to Brussels on February 22.


4. Catholic La Croix carried a special science supplement
announced on the front-page: "The Kyoto Protocol Will be
Implemented Tomorrow, Without the U.S." The supplement's
headline: "Lackluster Implementation of the Kyoto Protocol" and
main report lament that "without the U.S., the Protocol loses a
great deal of its effectiveness." The editorial in La Croix by
Dominique Quinio titled "First Victory," refers to the years of
negotiation that were necessary to "finally reach
implementation." Quinio poses the question "about the actual
effectiveness of a protocol from which the largest polluter, the
U.S., has excluded itself. [However] One hundred and forty one
countries have agreed to find answers together. This form of
multilateralism, which President Bush does not want, is very good
news."


5. Weekly news magazine L'Express focuses on "post-Kyoto" and
asks: "In the end what is Kyoto good for?" Environmental
journalist for L'Express Marion Festraets remarks that, "Without
the U.S. the world can continue to set ambitious goals for
itself, but in the end they will amount to nothing."

FEBRUARY 16 PRESS

6. "The Fight Against Global Warming Becomes a Reality for 141
Countries" headlines the front-page of left-of-center Le Monde.
Two full pages are devoted to the Kyoto Protocol under the title:
"Reluctantly Washington is Forced to Change." The report and the
unsigned editorial stress that "Things are changing on the other
side of the Atlantic. Indeed the American administration will not
only have to take into account its isolation on the international
front, Mr. Bush is used to this, but it will also have to listen
to its own changing public opinion." The editorial mentions
President Chirac intends to bring up the issue of global warming
with President Bush in Brussels later this month but fears that
Chirac's objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
will only serve to "goad President Bush. If Europe decides that
it wants to go beyond the terms of Kyoto it will have to involve
the southern countries. Europeans will then have to choose
between appeasing the U.S. and convincing China."

7. Right-of-center Le Figaro devotes a full-page to the Kyoto
Protocol and the daily's Washington correspondent, Philippe
Gelie, insists the implementation of the Protocol underscores the
"international isolation and internal contradictions of the U.S.
Not only was the Bush administration incapable of stopping the
rest of the world from moving forward without it. but the
alternatives it has proposed have failed miserably."
continue on their own in a world that is for the most part
controlled by the Protocol." End summary.


8. Centrist business-oriented La Tribune's front-page announces
the "Mobilization of the World Against Global Warming " and
carries a two-page report entitled: "The Kyoto Protocol: A Small
Step for a Huge Challenge." La Tribune's New York correspondent,
Lysiane Baudu, pens an analysis: "In the U.S. Nature Comes After
Business" in which she affirms that at the national level the
measures taken for the environment "are not brilliant" but that
at the state level, the mobilization is such that the U.S. could
almost meet the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. She adds that while
the U.S. does not "completely shun its responsibilities, it puts
business before nature."


9. Economic center-right Les Echos carries three op-eds devoted
to Kyoto: "Kyoto is Here . Now We Just Need To Act" by three
members of the French branch of the international NGO Climate
Action Network; "A Challenge for World Governance" by the
Director General of the steel giant Arcelor and president of the
association Businesses for the Environment; and the last piece
"Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde and the Climate" by French engineer Jean-
Marc Jancovici.


10. In Catholic La Croix, former Socialist Prime Minister
Laurent Fabius pens an op-ed in which he calls for French
government "action rather than words." "We must rejoice over the
Kyoto Protocol's implementation, even if it is only partial and
comes late. But now it is important to act. In France there is a
major discrepancy between President Chirac's words and France's
reduced environmental budget, which has earned us last place in
Europe."


11. The editorial in left-of-center Liberation by Patrick
Sabatier calls the implementation of the Protocol "a small step
for diplomacy, but a huge step for humanity. Progress will only
be made if we spend as much on research as we do on weapons.
Western society is built on the consumption of natural resources,
with the U.S. leading the way. The political revolution will be
to impose the need to master energy consumption and to base all
policies on the need to conserve energy resources."


12. Center-right popular daily France Soir also refers to the
treaty as a "First Step for the Planet" while center-right
popular daily Le Parisien titles: "You, Too, Can Contribute to
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions" putting forward seven ways to
change one's habits in order to save energy.


13. Regional dailies La Voix du Nord and Nord- lair, feature
articles covering the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and
highlight the "American refusal" to ratify the treaty because of
fears that its industries would be subject to the constraints of
the agreement.


14. Comment: In general, French print media coverage of climate
change and the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol tends to
follow the official views of the French government set out in an
op-ed by Environment Minister Serge Lepeltier in popular center-
right daily Le Parisien, i.e., that developing nations such as
China or India are exempt from having to meet the terms of the
Protocol despite the fact that they are benefiting from
significant economic growth; that the U.S., which produces more
CO2 than any other country, has refused to ratify; and that
France merely needs to "stabilize its emissions" to meet the
conditions of the treaty and intends to go well beyond these
conditions by 2050. The Kyoto Protocol and climate change remain
a fundamental prism through which many Europeans see U.S.
unilateralism and America-first (and only) policy positions.
While the French media have carried our arguments of the need for
effective emission-reduction strategies and examples on U.S.
continue on their own in a world that is for the most part
controlled by the Protocol." End summary.

efforts in the area (interviews with U.S. experts, opeds placed
by the Embassy),the coverage of the last two days demonstrates
that the U.S. position on climate change still often places it as
the odd man out in a global effort. Post recommends placing
emphasis on the efforts the U.S. is making in this global effort
and down-playing, where possible, the focus on economic growth
unless it is accompanied by clear explanation that only global
growth (and not only benefits to the U.S. economy) is the sine
qua non of developing nations' ability to participate in
emissions reductions.


15. Embassy Paris renews its request to increase speaker-team
programming in climate science and climate friendly
technologies. U.S. leadership in these fields is by all measures
impressive. We were pleased to note that today in Brussels
GEOSS's formal framework was implemented.
Leach