Bush's climate plan 'the classic US line'

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-02 07:08

US President George W Bush's plan to combat climate change got a cool reception in Europe on Friday where the European Union's environment chief dismissed it as unambitious and "the classic US line".

Bush, under pressure to do more ahead of a summit in Germany next week of the Group of Eight industrial nations, said on Thursday that he would seek a deal among top emitters on long-term cuts in greenhouse gases by the end of 2008.

"The declaration by President Bush basically restates the classic US line on climate change - no mandatory reductions, no carbon trading and vaguely expressed objectives," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, according to his spokeswoman.

"The US approach has proven to be ineffective in reducing emissions," Dimas said.

Bush called for a long-term deal on cuts among 15 top emitters led by the United States, China, Russia and India, a shift from an existing US policy lasting to 2012 that will allow US greenhouse gas emissions to rise.

Some newspapers portrayed Bush's plan as a defeat for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who wants the G8 to agree now on a need for world cuts of about 50 percent in emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

"One of the customs at G8 summits is that the other participants grant the host a success on their big issue," the Financial Times Deutschland said in an editorial.

"The fact that Bush has not kept to this is an affront, and he's made Merkel's defeat even worse," it said. In Britain, the Guardian daily said "Bush kills off hopes for G8 climate change plan".

Still, Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said that it was too early to predict the outcome of the G8. "I think we can say at this stage that it's going to be tough, that we face very intense discussions," he said.

UN reports this year have projected ever more heatwaves, floods, desertification and rising seas because of rising temperatures linked to greenhouse gases, mainly from fossil fuels. The EU aims to cut its emissions of 20 percent by 2020.

Some leaders including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's main ally in Iraq, welcomed Bush's climate shift.

"I want to see us now go further from what President Bush has laid out, but let's be clear that for the first time we have the possibility of the elements of a global deal, with America behind it, with a target for reduction in greenhouse gases," Blair said during a trip to South Africa.

Dimas's colleague, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, hailed the plan. "For me it is very good and very welcome news," he said in Helsinki.

"It was completely new approach from the administration."

Agencies

(China Daily 06/02/2007 page11)