Posted on 07/08/2005 5:23:13 PM PDT by SierraWasp
U.S. pleased with G8 climate outcome
Blair continues to push U.S. but looks past Kyoto
By Stephanie I. Cohen, MarketWatch Last Update: 6:52 PM ET July 8, 2005
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- President Bush's top environmental adviser said Friday that the Group of Eight nations reached a milestone on climate change this week by moving past discussions of mandatory emissions reductions.
In a move seen as a victory for the Bush administration, the leaders attending the meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, adopted a statement on climate change that acknowledged greenhouse gases are warming the Earth's surfaces, but steered clear of agreeing to any binding actions to cut emissions.
"This will be the first time in four years that we have found a way to strike common ground," said James Connaughton, the chairman of President Bush's Council on Environmental Quality, speaking at an event in Washington, D.C.
Connaughton added that he felt the world's leaders had finally shown a willingness to move beyond discussions on the United Nations' Kyoto protocol, which set binding targets to bring the level of greenhouse gases created by industrialized nations down to 1990 levels by 2015.
Greenhouse gases -- primarily carbon dioxide -- are suspected of trapping heat in the atmosphere and contributing to the world's gradually warming climate, a change that is said to threaten weather patterns, agriculture and the polar caps.
The United States, the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases, is the only member of the Group of Eight nations that did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
America has resisted intense pressure in recent years from other industrialized nations to agree to the international framework, arguing that market-driven solutions and technology will be more successful in fighting pollution.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged Friday that he is prepared to look past Kyoto and toward new climate-change negotiations that involve the United States.
Britain served as the host for the summit, which focused on debt relief for Africa and climate-change issues.
"We have to put in place a pathway to a new dialogue when Kyoto expires in 2012," Blair said, speaking at a press conference.
He admitted that the Kyoto Protocol was not part of the discussions in Scotland, but also expressed some disappointment that the group has been unable to bring the United States on board.
"I tell you my fear on climate change. ... If it is impossible to bring America into the consensus on tackling the issue of climate change, we will never ensure that the huge emerging economies -- particularly those of China and India [that] are going to consume more energy than any other part of the world -- we will never ensure that they are part of the dialogue," Blair said.
Stephanie I. Cohen is a reporter for MarketWatch based in Washington.
That's where their manufacturing is.
Might as well be, Fiats are real dogs!
I thots Fiats wuz French!!! Yer ping gave me a pang!!! I don't like them thangs!!!
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