"The time for action is right now," the European Parliament's rapporteur on the environment, Jorge Oliveira da Silva, told a press conference in Moscow. "Kyoto is a matter of emergency."

The European delegation is in Moscow to attend a conference of experts on climate change and pressure President Vladimir Putin to submit the Kyoto treaty to the Russian parliament for ratification.

The treaty on the reduction of greenhouse gases has been signed by more than 100 countries but to come into effect requires the ratification of countries representing at least 55 percent of the total of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

The United States has refused to ratify the treaty and Russia's signature is needed to pass the threshold.

Oliveira da Silva noted that if Russia ratifies the accord, "it will be cheaper for European companies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Russia than in the West," with the likely consequence of investment by European companies fleeing higher pollution penalties.

He warned, however, that the delegation "did not come to Moscow to negotiate."

Everyone the delegates spoke to in Moscow "agreed to ratify the treaty: the question is when. We had no answer about the time."

The European delegation held talks with experts and officials from the environment ministry, the Academy of Sciences and the State Duma (lower house of parliament) including deputy speaker Vladimir Lukin.

The Moscow conference of scientific experts continues until October 3 and closes just ahead of an international gathering at ministerial level in Rome on October 6 called to discuss global warming and the future of the Kyoto protocol.

European deputy Alexander de Roo noted that ratification of the treaty by Moscow would bring "the world's largest polluter," the United States, under pressure to change its policy.

The protocol was almost destroyed in 2001 after it was abandoned by US President George W. Bush, who contended it was too costly for the oil-dependent American economy and unfair because it does not bind giant developing world countries to specific emissions cuts.

Scientists say that greenhouse gases are causing Earth's air, land and oceans to warm slowly but steadily, with consequences for the climate system that range from small to catastrophic according to the future carbon levels.

The Kyoto protocol's framework was decided in 1997, but its complex rulebook was not worked out until last year.

The Rome meeting has been scheduled as a preparatory gathering ahead of a full meeting of signatories in Milan in December.

SPACE.WIRE