California and Britain bust the Kyoto trade barrier

"THE Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, have struck an agreement to bypass the Bush Administration and work together to fight global warming," reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
California and Britain will create a market for the trading of carbon emissions, effectively punching a hole in the trade barriers between kyoto and non-Kyoto signatory countries. This move could opens the doors for Australians with carbon sinks to trade them in the high price Kyoto marketplace. The deal also includes sharing economic and scientific research on climate change and non-polluting technology.
"The evidence of climate change and its danger is overwhelming," Mr Blair said. "It is very hard for anyone to dispute it."
Gov. Schwarzenegger is running for his second term as governor. Despite being a staunch Republican, he attacked President Bush's refusal to recognise the problem: "We saw that there isn't leadership from the Federal Government when it comes to protection of the environment."

Present to support the deal were high profile corporate leaders, including James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch; Anthony Pratt, chairman of the Melbourne company Pratt Industries USA; the co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin; and Virgin's Richard Branson. Sir Richard said: "I think businesses can influence leaders who are not worrying enough about our grandchildren.... I'm afraid that Bush and [John] Howard, when it comes to global warming, stand out somewhat. Even China is actually doing better than those two leaders."
Britain is fourth and California is fifth among the world's economies.
Google's Mr Brin said the presence of political and business leaders answered the claim by countries such as Australia and the US that the treaty would put them at an economic disadvantage. "Any signals, milestones, acknowledgement about this issue, particularly the acknowledgement that we can improve the environment and the economy at the same time, is a very strong message," he said.