I was in my last year of high school in '97 and the Howard Government was campaigning and lobbying world leaders against an emerging climate change deal, as revealed by the 96/97 cabinet papers naa.gov.au/collection/exp…
Cabinet submissions and decisions on #climate change in the first 18 months of the Howard Govt are notable for not mentioning the impacts or consequences of climate change at all....
The motivation that kept Oz reluctantly involved in the Berlin Mandate negotiations that led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol was international ostracism and the fear of trade sanctions if it was recalcitrant
In June 1996, the tone was set >> 
A year later, it looked as if the EU and the US would come to a deal, agreed with the G77 at the UN General Assembly for a uniform target for OECD countries to stabilise greenhouse emissions at 1990 levels by 2000
Australia agreed to vigorously oppose a UN General Assembly agreement on such a deal
Shortly after, Environment Minister Robert Hill reported to Cabinet that Prime Minister Howard's "advocacy to world leaders" had been influential in preventing this US-EU climate change deal from getting legs at the Denver Economic Summit in June 1997
