Kevin Rudd is determined to ratify the Kyoto Protocol despite...

Kevin Rudd is determined to ratify the Kyoto Protocol despite knowing it will probably cost us billions:

AUSTRALIA faces high penalties for exceeding its greenhouse-gas emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol, Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd says…

“We are currently likely to ... overshoot our Kyoto target by one per cent,” Mr Rudd told ABC Radio today....

“(I)f we did overshoot by that one per cent, and that’s not definite but that’s, I’m basing that on the most recent statement by the Australian Greenhouse Office, then you’ll be looking at penalty which related to the 60-million tonnes...

In fact, by ratifying Kyoto, Rudd will instantly commit us to paying a $160 million unless we manage to get back under our target. That’s based on the European price last week of $26.85 for carbon credits for each tonne of CO2.

But if our emissions in fact keep growing, so will our fines. And to think New Zealand could have warned us:

The New Zealand Treasury estimates New Zealand’s Kyoto liability currently stands at NZ$708 million.

In fact, Japan, Italy and Spain should all have been warning enough:

Japan, Italy and Spain face fines of as much as $33 billion combined for failing to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as promised under the Kyoto treaty.

So why is Rudd signing away our cash?