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Bush Makes Final Push for Global Climate Deal
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Environmentalists contend that Bush's moves on global warming are too little, too late. They say even an agreement on a long-term goal would be meaningless because it would likely not bind the United States to making actual reductions.
In many ways, they said, G-8 nations have begun to shift their focus to presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, both of whom have indicated a willingness to consider steeper reductions than Bush -- the kind of cuts the White House regards as unrealistic.
The World Wildlife Fund is releasing a report card today on the progress of G-8 countries in addressing global warming, and it gives the United States the worst score, saying it is the "largest emitter with the highest per capita emissions" in the world. "While substantial activities emerge at the state level, little substantive federal measures are in place to curb emissions in the short term," the report says.
But Philip Clapp, deputy managing director of the environment group of the Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, said Bush deserves some credit for launching an international discussion of specific steps that emerging economies such as China and India could take to reduce carbon emissions.
Anything that the leaders agree to next week would have to be worked into a treaty that the United Nations hopes to conclude by the end of 2009 in Copenhagen, and Clapp said some of the work that Bush is doing could be useful for reaching that agreement, which would be a successor to Kyoto.
"People in this administration recognize they won't be in office for the completion of a treaty," Clapp said. "They have been involved in a legitimate exploration of what measures developing countries will be willing to discuss and making it clear that even a new administration would want to see" action from developing countries.
Harden reported from Tokyo.
