The announcement follows the release of a report last month by Dutch and American scientists arguing that the voluntary Montreal agreement has been more successful in combating climate change than has the market-based Kyoto protocol.

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Mr Rudd started by ratifying the Kyoto protocol on climate change, then issued a long-awaited formal apology to Australia's indigenous people for past injustices.

ECONOMIST: Australia changes prime minister

In his environment role - which was later hived off into a separate department - he was a key player in agreeing Kyoto Protocol on climate change in 1997.

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Meanwhile, those considering CCS plants in poor countries cannot earn UN-backed carbon credits, since the Kyoto protocol, the UN's treaty on climate change, makes no provision for the technology.

ECONOMIST: Carbon capture and storage

Chief among these are the agreements on Multilateralization and Demarcation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, and the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Convention on Climate Change.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: United States Senate