Who ratified the treaty?
More than 160 countries have signed on, including more than 30 industrialized countries. The United States — which produces about one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases — initially signed the agreement, but later rejected it. Nonetheless, because other large countries that together emit more than half of the world’s carbon have signed the agreement, the deal had enough weight behind it to become official on Feb. 16, 2005. What are the major problems with the treaty? The United States hasn’t become part of the agreement because it considers a problem the fact that several major developing nations, including India and China, are not required to reduce emissions under the agreement. China is expected to overtake the United States as the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases as early as this year. Perhaps an even bigger problem with Kyoto, however, is that scientists say that even if it is successful, it would do relatively little to slow the pace of global warming. What is hap
