U.S. rules out extra pledges on global warming

By Alister Doyle and Jeffrey Jones

MONTREAL (Reuters) – The United States ruled out making
extra pledges to fight global warming beyond 2012 on Tuesday,
angering environmentalists who accused Washington of blocking a
189-nation conference in Canada.

Chief U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson also strongly
defended President George W. Bush’s environmental record,
saying emissions by the world’s biggest polluter had fallen
more in 2000-2003 than in the European Union.

Up to 10,000 delegates are meeting in Montreal, Canada,
from November 28-December 9 to discuss new ways to fight a
build-up of gases released mainly from burning fossil fuels in
factories, power plants and cars.

“The United States is opposed to any such discussions,”
Watson told a news conference of Canadian proposals to launch
talks under the U.N.’s climate convention about new actions to
combat global warming beyond 2012.

Environmentalists accused Washington of doing too little to
fight a rise in temperatures from human activities that could
lead to more storms, expanding deserts and worse floods, and
could raise sea levels by up to three feet (one meter) by 2100.

Bill Hare, climate policy director of Greenpeace, called
the United States the “fly in the ointment” at the conference.
“The failure of the United States to be willing to discuss
future action here is the real issue,” he said, predicting
Washington will only join a global pact after Bush leaves
office.

KYOTO PROTOCOL

Bush pulled out in 2001 of the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, under
which about 40 industrial nations have to cut greenhouse gas
emissions by about 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 1008-12.

At Montreal, Kyoto backers plan to launch talks, likely to
last several years, on new commitments beyond 2012. Bush
branded Kyoto too costly and said it wrongly excluded poor
countries.

Many also hope to start wider parallel talks among all
countries, including the United States and developing nations
such as China and India, on new ways to fight climate change.

“We hope to start a dialogue” among all 189 nations, said
Sarah Hendry, head of the British delegation which holds the
rotating EU presidency. She said that new tougher measures were
urgently needed to combat rising temperatures.

And British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a speech
earlier on Tuesday that he believed that all major economies
would sign up for a binding accord to succeed Kyoto.

But Watson reiterated that Washington had no plans to adopt
Kyoto-style caps on emissions and rejected environmentalists’
predictions that the U.S. was dooming the conference to
failure.

“I don’t know why it’s doomed,” he said. “There’s more than
one way to approach climate change.

“Look at the data — the United States has done better in
the first three years of the Bush administration in addressing
greenhouse gas emissions than the EU … the UK, France,
Germany.

“I can go down the laundry list for you. I reject the
premise that a Kyoto-like agreement is necessary to address the
issue,” he said of emissions between 2000-03. Washington is
investing heavily in new technology like hydrogen.

Still, U.N. data show the United States is doing worse than
all the nations named by Watson in the longer term. U.S.
emissions were 13.3 percent above 1990 levels in 2003 — while
the EU average in the same period was a fall of 1.4 percent.

Outside the conference, activists dressed as trees, insects
and birds marched to call for the protection of rainforests.

“It would be nice if the U.S. would step up and start to
take some action,” said Ben Matchstick, a U.S. organizer
dressed as a bird.