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Bush climate plans spark debate
WASHINGTON: A plan by US
president George W Bush for countries to set their own targets
for reducing greenhouse gas emissions has drawn considerable
criticism.
Some delegates at a meeting of the world’s top 16 polluters saw
Bush’s comments as a US reluctance to commit to binding action
on global warming.
Officials at the Washington forum said legally-set international
targets were the only way to tackle climate change.
Bush stressed that combating climate change should not damage
the economy.
And he again hinted that the US would not commit itself to
mandatory CO2 cuts.
“Each nation must decide for itself the right mix of tools and
technology to achieve results that are measurable and
environmentally effective,” Bush told delegates in Washington.
But his comments did not go down well with a number of the
ministers, diplomats and officials attending the US-sponsored
forum on energy security and climate change.
South African environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said
in a statement: “What (the US) placed on the table at this
meeting is a first step, but is simply not enough.
“We think that the US needs to go back to the drawing board.”
The British climate envoy, John Ashton, said the US seemed
isolated on the issue of fighting climate change.
“I think that the argument that we can do this through voluntary
approaches is now pretty much discredited internationally,” he
told the Reuters news agency.
The BBC reported Bush’s plan did not sit well with the majority
of delegates.
The plan exposed serious differences over the best way forward
on climate change, it added.
Shortly after taking office in 2001, Bush said he would not ask
Congress to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on cutting emissions, and
has consistently opposed mandatory cuts.
Instead the president has championed voluntary approaches –
echoed by China and India.
Bush urged delegates last Friday to set a joint long-term goal
for reducing the CO2 emissions that were causing the climate to
heat up.
“By setting this goal, we acknowledge there is a problem. And by
setting this goal, we commit ourselves to doing something about
it,” Bush said.
He told delegates his Washington forum would work within the
framework of UN-led negotiations to craft a successor to Kyoto,
due to begin in December in Bali, Indonesia.
But he stressed that it was possible to cut emissions without
harming economies.
“We must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth
or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their
people,” he said.
Humberto Rosa, a Portuguese minister representing the EU,
welcomed the “firm and strong message”, which he said was in
“sharp contrast” to previous US attitudes.
Teams from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, the EU, France,
Germany, Japan, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, South Africa,
South Korea, Russia and the US took part in the Washington
forum. – BBC
 
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