U.S. Backs Kyoto Alternative

Joins Five Countries In Pact Limiting Greenhouse Gases

(AP) 
Today the United States accounts for a quarter of the word's greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere, with emissions growing at the rate of 1.5 percent a year despite the administration's voluntary climate change policies.

However, emissions are expected to surge in countries such as India and China, whose industrial base is growing rapidly.

"Within the next decade or two, developing countries will overtake the industrial world in total greenhouse gas emissions, so that by 2025 more than half of global annual emissions will be coming from developing countries," economist W. David Montgomery, a critic of the Kyoto accord, told a recent Senate hearing.

Environmentalists, who have been sharply critical of Mr. Bush's voluntary approach to dealing with climate change, called Wednesday's initiative little more than what already is being pursued through various bilateral discussions.

"All they're doing now is wrapping together a few of these partnerships. There does not seem to be anything new," said Annie Petsonk of Environmental Defense.

Connaughton said the agreement with the five Asian countries culminated more than five months of talks. Mr. Bush personally discussed the issue with both Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when they recently visited Washington.

Like Mr. Bush, Howard has been a sharp critic of the Kyoto climate accord, preferring other approaches to dealing with global warming. "We know that this is the answer," Howard told reporters in Canberra, referring to the technology development partnership. "We know the Kyoto Protocol is a failure in terms of saving the climate. We have to do better."

In recent weeks Mr. Bush has gained several victories for his climate policies.

Congress is preparing to enact broad energy legislation that essentially endorses the voluntary approach on climate and includes incentives for development and exporting clean energy technologies.

And earlier this month in Scotland, the Group of Eight industrialized countries bowed to U.S. pressure by approving a declaration on climate change that avoided taking any concrete steps to fight global warming, such as setting targets or timetables for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.