World Climate Talks Rattled By Bush Speech

(AP)  A new U.S. call for curbing greenhouse gas emissions shook up climate talks Thursday in Paris among the world's biggest polluters, with some envoys welcoming the gesture and others calling it too little, too late.

U.S. President George W. Bush said the United States must stop the growth in its emissions of greenhouse gases by 2025, acknowledging the need to head off serious climate change.

His White House address Wednesday marked the first time he had set a specific target date for U.S. climate pollution reductions. He said he was ready to commit to a binding international agreement on long-term reductions as long as other polluting countries, such as China, do the same.

In Paris, where talks are scheduled through Friday, South African Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said Mr. Bush's speech "takes us backward," because it did not call for mandatory emissions cuts. Such cuts are central to U.N. negotiations on a follow-up plan to the Kyoto Protocol.

Even tougher criticism came from Germany, whose environment minister said Mr. Bush is "lagging hopelessly behind the problems with his proposals."

"His speech follows the motto: 'losership instead of leadership,"' Sigmar Gabriel said in a statement issued in Berlin. "We are glad that there are other voices in the USA."

The meetings in Paris are part of a U.S.-sponsored series of negotiations on global warming. They involve representatives from the countries that produce 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for heating the planet - including the United States, the European Union, China and India.

Mr. Bush's chief adviser on climate change, Jim Connaughton, defended the U.S. position at the talks in Paris. "It was a speech directed at domestic audiences," he said. The United States was "way ahead of the curve," on environmental measures such as developing biofuels and environmentally friendly technology, he added.

He acknowledged that Mr. Bush's speech had caused tensions at the Paris talks, adding, "we will work through that today."

Mr. Bush's aides said the speech was aimed at heading off a "train wreck" of varying legislation in the U.S. Congress.

Delegates from the European Commission and the EU presidency found Mr. Bush's strategy "disappointing," said the chief U.N. climate change official, Yvo de Boer.

De Boer said Mr. Bush's speech immediately became a central topic at Thursday's closed-door talks. "It is really good that there is a proposal on the table by the United States," De Boer said.

Chinese participant Su Wei said it was good news that Bush was talking about emissions at all. But he added, "to take measures to slow down the increase in emissions is not enough."

The Paris talks were initially meant to focus on reducing trade barriers to environmentally friendly technology, and to working out sector-by-sector targets for cutting global emissions. The South African environment minister said the Bush speech was a "complicating factor" that threw off the agenda.

The Paris sessions are the third in the series of U.S.-sponsored talks after meetings in Honolulu in January and New York in September.

[sjc_1]

Bush said that he would regulate CO2 in 2000. He lied. This should come as no surprise because that seems to be his favorite pass time. Then he said that we could not do anything, because that would be bad for the economy. Now that the economy is crashing, I guess it would be OK.

[louiville2]

formrusmcsgt

Sign a blank check for me and in the process sign off on all your rights to privacy so that I can come and go at your house as I please. In return I will promise to do good things (for me) with the money etc...

Nobody, in the US wanted to sign the Kyoto ***. Countries who did sign already owe Billions of dollars. To who? The same people who brought you the "Oil for Money" scam.

[formrusmcsgt]

He said he was ready to commit to a binding international agreement on long-term reductions as long as other polluting countries, such as China, do the same.
---

Considering that his first act as president was to dismiss the Kyoto Accords, you can''t observe that dubya is quick on the uptake by any means......

[brianbwb-2009]

Regardless of whether any one agree or disagrees about the causes of climate change, two things cannot be denied, one, we have a finite amount of air, land and water, and two, we are wastefully and unnecessarily pouring toxic garbage into all three, resisting doing right by our home because it might lead to reduced profits.

Those who think this to be no problem are fools, and should be made to live in the most polluted areas as a lesson.

[yamuttya]

Bush has served an important purpose.
He has convinced the world that they cannot rely on the US for leadership as they had believed they could.
The US cannot be trusted ,and US presidents tend to be corrupt fools.
Never again.

[yamuttya]

When the Chinese are justifiably mocking your position you really are an example of losership.
Bush is a joke, the sooner he leaves, the sooner we can get down to business.
He''s just a tragic waste of time.
Disgraceful, an embarassment to the world.

[ubrew12]

Fact 1: The greenhouse effect has been understood without controversy for 180 years. Without greenhouse gases, like CO2, in our atmosphere, we would all freeze to death. No one disputes this.

Fact 2: CO2 levels have gone up 50% in the last 100 years. These increases are measured EVERYWHERE and are not some isolated ''heat-island'' effect. No one disputes this.

How can these two facts be true, and have NO affect on our climate??? Global Warming deniers are smoking some serious Ganja to claim that.

[jimfinster]

The sun is getting hotter? Really?

[terrapin78]

If the US moves aggressively it will be very bad for France. The last time we sent the world into a depression, which Global Warming moves surely would do, Germany went insane and took over France.

Of course, man has no effect on the temperature in the world, since the Sun is getting hotter.

Posted by tburzio at 03:04 PM : Apr 18, 2008

What do you base this assertion on? Certainly not facts!

[aaabee-2009]

Information on food shortages and their multiple causes:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/hunger/environment/index.htm
climate change/environmental perspective.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/050907EA.shtml
biofuel crop vs food perspective.

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/fall2000/messer3.htm
War perspective.

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/1995/2249_food_intro.html
corporate power perspective.

http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu22we/uu22we09.htm
Straight science perspective.

http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/fpr/fpr30.pdf
2020 Global Food Outlook
Trends, Alternatives, and Choices