(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-14 11:21

BALI, Indonesia -- Former US Vice President Al Gore here on Thursday urged the Bush Administration to act with sense of urgency on climate change, which he described as a "moral" issue.

Former US Vice President Al Gore in Bali Thursday urges the Bush Administration to act with sense of urgency on climate change, which he described as a "moral" issue. [Xinhua]

"My own country, the United States of America, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali," said Gore in an emotional speech delivered on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Gore, who won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning global actions on climate change, said climate change is "not a political issue", "not a diplomatic issue" but "a moral issue".

Gore joined the voices for America to take urgent action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The emissions reduction targets issue has been foot-dragging negotiations ever since the UN conference opened on December 3.

The United States has been objecting including in a final conference document a suggestion that industrialized countries reduce emissions by between 25 percent and 40 percent by 2020.

The United States is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and is the only country that has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol among major industrialized countries.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol requires 37 industrial nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a relatively modest average 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

The Bush Administration has argued that the climate pact would harm the US economy.

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