(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-26 14:41

HONOLULU - High-ranking officials from some of the world's biggest economies are expected to gather in Honolulu next week to find ways to reduce greenhouse gases and slow global warming without stopping development.

The conference will further talks held in Bali, Indonesia, last month, at which countries agreed to adopt a blueprint for fighting global warming by 2009. Details for reducing greenhouse gas emissions must still be worked out.

Members of the European Union, Japan, China and India are expected to come to the East-West Center in Honolulu for the meeting Wednesday and Thursday.

The U.S., the host, is sending Jim Connaughton, White House environmental chief, and Undersecretary of State Paula J. Dobriansky, who headed the U.S. delegation to last month's talks in Bali.

"We have a very high level of participation," Connaughton said at a press briefing Friday in Washington.

He said this indicates world leaders support the process as a follow-up to the Bali conference leading to U.N. meetings and the Group of Eight summit on global warming with President George W. Bush and other world leaders in July.

Some Europeans had threatened to boycott the Honolulu meeting until the U.S. agreed to a roadmap in a last-minute compromise at the Bali talks. The Indonesia conference launched negotiations to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 and is not supported by the U.S.

Connaughton said the Honolulu meetings are aimed at getting countries to agree to "binding market-based and voluntary measures" to save the world from climate catastrophe.

He said items to be discussed are "a long-term global goal for greenhouse gas reduction that's consistent with economic development objectives."

Participants will also talk about setting national plans and an assessment of "binding market-based and voluntary measures that could be environmentally effective and measurable."

The work in Honolulu and at other meetings this year will be essential for completing the work by 2009, he said.

No major pronouncements or agreements are expected to come out of the meeting. But it could address specifics such as how to control coal emission and protect forests, as well as development of nuclear, wind and solar energy and goals for reducing emissions that specific industries might adopt worldwide.

Dobriansky said the Honolulu meetings are aimed at helping countries develop a shared vision for a long-term global goal, as called for in the Bali agreement.

"Our international partnerships are very significant, very robust," she said, pointing to groups aimed at issues involving power generation, energy efficiency, use of hydrogen, carbon sequestration, nuclear energy, and methane development.

The meeting is also a continuation of a September meeting opened by Bush in Washington.