Rudd urges US to ratify Kyoto pact

New Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday the US should follow his lead and ratify the Kyoto Protocol, completing his country's switch from Washington's sole ally on global warming to its latest critic.

Rudd signed documents this week that will formally commit Australia to the international agreement, reversing a decade of resistance and leaving the US as the only industrialized country to refuse to accept binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Our position vis-a-vis Kyoto is clear cut, and that is that all developed and developing countries need to be part of the global solution," Rudd told the Southern Cross Broadcasting radio network.