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treaty was negotiated in 1997 in the Japanese city for which it is named.
At the time, France, Germany and other European nations resisted the idea, Sandor said, but because of the success of the U. S. sulfur dioxide trading program, they have become some of the leading advocates of the approach. The European Climate Exchange, a subsidiary of the Chicago exchange, is to begin operations in January.
Given the level of activity among the states, Sandor said businesses may eventually seek a single national standard rather than face a patchwork of state regulations.
"My feeling is that independent of the administration, this thing has an energy and a momentum of its own," he said.
Two reports this week provide new evidence that greenhouse emissions are leading to a variety of changes in ecosystems.
In a report requested by the U.S. and seven other countries with Arctic territory, a group of international climate experts said Arctic temperatures are likely to rise up to twice as fast as the global average, leading to less ice cover.
That could help whales and some fish, such as cod, but it would also mean less habitat for polar bears, which hunt for seals and other prey on ice floes.
A separate study commissioned by the Pew climate center found that several species of birds and butterflies in North America already have begun to shift their migration patterns northward as temperatures rise. The report, which summarizes previously published studies involving approximately 150 species, notes that, among other examples, robins are returning earlier in the spring to Wisconsin.
But the ability of one species to adapt can mean another suffers. The red fox is expanding into the territory of the Arctic fox, pushing that species into a shrinking habitat. "Even if you're not impressed by the health of one particular organism, these organisms have always been useful as indicators of the overall health of the ecosystem," said ecologist Hector Galbraith of the University of Colorado, one of the study's authors.
"They're the canaries in the coal mine, and the canaries are squawking."
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