“Australia Steals Show At Bali Climate Talks” was how it was headlined in The New York Times; “Australia signs Kyoto and gets ovation at Bali”, reported London’s Telegraph; “Bali Climate Change Meeting Opens; China, India and U.S. Still in Denial”, says Wired News. 

“Australia vulnerable … to Protocol penalties” was  Tim Blair‘s take. 

Kevin Rudd’s decision to ratify Kyoto led to applause at the UN and a Mexican wave across world media. Here’s what some are saying today:

Australia:

The importance of symbolism: It was a bit churlish of Australia really, to push in the negotiations so we got very generous terms for a developed country, and then not take them up anyway. So no one really doubted our ability to meet Kyoto targets. But it was symbolic. To the Howard government, it was a chance to show that they put economic growth at a higher priority than the environment, it was a chance to show significant support for the Bush regime (the US being the other nation notable for signing but not ratifying) in the US, and it was a key issue for the several conservative backers of the Liberal party (notably Hugh Morgan of Western Mining, and the conservative think tanks funded by him and others like the Institute for Public Affairs and the Lavoisier group). — Strangedave

A matter of urgency: It is vital that the IPCC talks starting Monday, in Bali, reach a post-2012 resolve restricting carbon emissions that will ensure decisive action will be forthcoming. There will not be a final agreement – the cagey US and the major creators of new carbon emissions such as China will prevent this – but the supreme urgency of the current situation should assert itself. — Harry Clarke

Hostage to US: The importance of this is hard to over-estimate. For the last six or seven years, Howard and his deluded cronies took us to a very dark and dangerous place: a cartoon world where the Project for a New American Century was bathed in the glow of righteousness and Teh Enemy was cackling and gibbering in the shadows … and Howard, totally out of his depth and longing for the certainties of the Menzies era, succumbed like the most innocent virgin to the flattery of the nonentity in the White House and his lunatic offsider. — The Road to Surfdom

A different perspective: Here’s yet another nail in the coffin of CO2 climate change culpability. Unfortunately, our political masters seem intent on hamstringing the developed world’s economies while letting China, India, Brazil and other economies off the hook at the upcoming Bali round of climate talks. The Climate Faithful regularly question the credentials of those presenting research contrary to the so called ‘consensus’ that human created CO2 is the primary source of the current warming trend. What these people miss is that climate science is fundamentally a mathematical/ statistical analysis of climate data. Therefore, qualifications in those disciplines are mandatory in order to determine whether claims of correlation can be supported. — Kerplunk

Change is afoot: While I would expect that many of the new government’s supporters didn’t swallow the “me-too” and “Howard lite” bollocks spouted by media for months before the election, I doubt that such decisive and progressive commitments were expected before the year was out. — Typing is not activism

Overseas:

US and Kazakhstan left: On the first day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Kevin Rudd, the new prime minister of Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the United States and Kazakhstan the only signatories who have failed to ratify. — Hill Heat

What now for US? Rudd had promised to make climate change a priority and ratify the Kyoto Protocol while campaigning for the Australian Labor Party. When Australia becomes a fully functional member of the Kyoto Protocol in March, the United States will be the only industrialized nation not a signatory to the pact. Both the US and Australia have faced intense criticism as a result of their opposition to the Kyoto pact, the first comprehensive international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by developed and developing nations. — The Jurist

No continent is an island: On his very first official day in office today, new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol, committing his country to deep emissions cuts and putting ever more peer pressure on the United States — the only industrialized nation still holding out on Kyoto ratification. — Grist

Well, that was quick. Amazing what a change of administration can do…Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards have all — with various degrees of enthusiasm and clarity — said that they support ratifying Kyoto. I hope we get the chance to find out whether that’s more than a campaign promise. — Opinio Juris