Bush Calls for Global Emissions Goals

President Bush greets the audience at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, Thursday, May 31,2007, after speaking about international development ahead of next week's summit in Germany. The president proposed that 15 major nations agree on a global emissions goal for greenhouse gases. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (J. Scott Applewhite - AP)

Despite U.S. opposition to her plan, Merkel welcomed Bush's idea, saying it provided "common ground" for getting a new international agreement on global warming. Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, traveling in South Africa, said Bush's announcement shows that the United States is accepting global warming as a "real problem" and is prepared to be part of a global deal on reduction of emissions.

Bush is proposing that the United States and about a dozen other nations hold a series of meetings to set long-term goals by the end of next year for reducing greenhouse gases. The final list of nations has not yet been decided, but other participants would likely include India, China, Brazil, Russia, Canada, Japan, Australia, South Korea and the European Union.

He envisions that each country will set goals on how they want to improve energy security, reduce air pollution and cut greenhouse gases in the next 10 to 20 years. Leaders from power generation, alternative fuels and transportation industries would form working groups to share clean-energy technology.

"We will create a strong and transparent system for measuring each country's performance," Bush said. "The way to meet this challenge of energy and global climate change is through technology, and the United States is in the lead."

Separately, the Bush-appointed head of the U.S. space program said Thursday that he was not sure global warming was a problem and that it was "a rather arrogant position" to say the world's climate should not change.

"I am not sure that it is fair to say that is a problem we must wrestle with," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said on National Public Radio.

While the United States signed a 1992 global agreement on climate talks, it refused to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol limiting emissions. Bush argued that Kyoto would harm the U.S. economy, unfairly excluded fast-growing nations like India and China and said nothing about cutting emissions after the treaty expires in 2012.

The White House argues that Bush's proposal does not ignore, but complements ongoing multinational efforts to address the problem.

More than 1,000 diplomats have begun working on a new accord to succeed Kyoto. The ideas will be put before a larger meeting of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in December in Bali, Indonesia, when U.N. officials hope to launch formal talks on a post-Kyoto treaty.

In a voluntary program called the Asia-Pacific Partnership, Bush also is working with Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea _ producers of half the world's greenhouse gases _ to attract private money for cleaner energy technologies.