Bush Pushes For Long-Term Climate Goal at G8 Summit
Posted on: Thursday, 3 July 2008, 00:30 CDT
The U.S. government is backing a G8 goal to curb greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. President George W. Bush said Wednesday he hoped both developing and industrialized nations would join the effort.
Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations, known as the G8, will meet next week in Japan. Other major polluting countries like China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa will also be present to discuss long-term and interim steps to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Last year, the G8 -- Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- agreed to strive towards a global goal of cutting emissions by 50 percent by 2050.
Bush said negotiations hinge on a key point: any agreement must include those other countries and not just the leading industrial countries.
"The first thing is to make sure we get an understanding that all of us need to agree on a long-term goal," Bush told reporters at the White House. "Effectiveness comes when major economies come to the table."
In April, Bush asked the United States to halt the emissions growth by 2025. That announcement was met with global criticism as too insignificant. He has also opposed an economy-wide plan to cap carbon dioxide emissions.
"The first step is to agree to a long-term goal," he told reporters. "I've talked to our sherpa about that, and he feels pretty good that people are now coming to the clear understanding that we're going to have to come to a long-term goal."
"Hopefully, we can do it at this meeting," Bush said. "If not, we'll continue to press forward to get it done."
The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and time is running out to reach a new climate deal. At last December's meeting in Bali, international negotiators agreed to begin two years of talks aimed at adopting a new treaty in Copenhagen by 2009.
So far, U.S. leaders have elected not to join Kyoto Protocol. They claim its stringent carbon dioxide requirements would hurt the U.S. economy and even give quick-developing nations like China and India an unfair advantage.
Source: redOrbit staff and wire reports
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