Bush calls on 15 countries to set global emission goal by 08
US President George Bush, seeking to blunt international criticism of the US record on climate change, today urged 15 major nations to agree on a global emissions goal for reducing greenhouse gases by the end of next year.
Bush asked for the first in a series of meetings to begin this fall, bringing together countries identified as major emitters of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The list would include the US, China, India and major European countries.
The president outlined his proposal in a speech ahead of next week’s summit in Germany of leading industrialised nations, where global warming is to be a major topic and Bush will be on the spot.
The US has refused to ratify the landmark 1997 Kyoto Protocol that required industrialised countries to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2012.
Developing countries, including China and India, were exempted from that first round of cuts.
Bush rejected the Kyoto approach, as well as the latest German proposal for what happens after 2012.
The absence of China and India, both major polluters, from the Kyoto formula has been given as a reason the Bush administration turned its back on the protocol.
“The US takes this issue seriously,” Bush said Thursday. “The new initiative I’m outlining today will contribute to the important dialogue that will take place in Germany next week.”
Along with his recommendation of a global emissions goal, Bush urged other nations to eliminate tariffs on clean energy technologies.
Germany, which holds the European Union and Group of Eight presidencies, is proposing a so-called “two-degree” target, whereby global temperatures would be allowed to increase no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) before being brought back down.
Practically, experts have said that means a global reduction in emissions of 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.
Instead, Bush is recommending that nations hold a series of meetings, beginning late this year, to set a global emissions goal.
Each nation then would have to decide on how to achieve the goal, White House officials said.
“The US will work with other nations to establish a new framework for greenhouse gas emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012,” the president said.
“So my proposal is this: By the end of next year, America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases.
“To develop this goal, the United States will convene a series of meetings of nations that produce the most greenhouse gases, including nations with rapidly growing economies like India and China.
“Each country would establish midterm management targets and programmes that reflect their own mix of energy sources and future energy needs,” he said.
“In the course of the next 18 months, our nations will bring together industry leaders from different sectors of our economies, such as power generation, and alternative fuels and transportation.”
Bush’s critics were quick to respond, even before the president ended his speech.
Daniel Weiss, climate strategy director for the liberal Centre for American Progress, said the Bush administration has a “do-nothing” policy on global warming despite US allies’ best efforts to spur US reductions.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called Bush’s plan “a big step forward”.
“For the first time America’s saying it wants to be part of a global deal,” Blair said in Johannesburg, South Africa, speaking to Sky News. “For the first time it’s setting its own domestic targets. For the first time it’s saying it wants a global target for the reduction of emissions, and therefore for the first time I think the opportunity for a proper global deal.”
The US experienced last year a drop in emissions of carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas most blamed for global warming. The 1.3% decline from 2005, the first drop in 11 years, was due to a mild winter followed by a cool summer.
Carbon dioxide is produced from burning fossil fuels, including natural gas and coal, which are used widely to produce electricity to heat homes in winter and run air conditioners in summer.
While Bush announced his new proposal, the administration registered its opposition to a number of other approaches to combat global warming.
Specifically, the White House said it does not support a global carbon-trading program that would allow countries to buy and sell carbon credits to meet limits on carbon dioxide levels.
The White House also expressed opposition to energy efficiency targets advocated by the European Union, arguing that a standard applicable in one country does not fit another.
