Won146;t sign Kyoto Protocol: Australia

Even as environmentalists and leaders pressed Australia to sign the Kyoto protocol in the wake of the latest UN report on global warming, the country8217;s Prime Minister today maintained his stand to not sign the protocol as it excludes world8217;s major polluters.

8220;Signing Kyoto is not going to solve the problem because Kyoto does not include the world8217;s major polluters. We8217;ve moved on from that and in any event, we are going to meet our target under Kyoto, many of our critics who have signed Kyoto will not do so,8221; Prime Minister John Howard said in a statement today.

The UN report that paints a bleak picture of higher sea levels and temperatures this century has urged the world to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but Howard said looking to solar and wind energy is not the solution. Calling for the use of nuclear energy as an alternative, he said, 8220;There is no point in the face of such comprehensive challenge of ruling out a consideration that may over time provide part of the solution8230; Let8217;s be realistic8212;you can only run on fossil fuel or in time, nuclear power.8221;