G8 Bush Proposed Talks on Greenhouse Gases

G8 Bush Proposed Talks on Greenhouse Gases



May 2007 -   President George W. Bush today said 
the United States wants to establish a new framework on greenhouse gas 
emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Outlining his plans 
for the G8 Summit next week in Germany, the President said the United 
States will propose a series of meetings with nations that produce the 
most emissions, including India and China. 
"By the end of next year, America and other nations will set a long-term 
global goal for reducing greenhouse gases," Bush told a meeting of the 
United States Global Leadership Campaign, a coalition of more than 400 
corporate, humanitarian and development member organizations. 
In addition to this long-term global goal, "each country would establish 
midterm national targets," Bush said, as well as and programs that reflect 
its individual mix of energy sources and future energy needs. 

President George W. Bush announces his plan for global warming meetings at 
the Ronald Reagan Building and International Center in Washington, DC. 

"Over the course of the next 18 months, our nations would bring together 
industry leaders from different sectors of our economies, such as power 
generation and alternative fuels and transportation," said Bush. "These 
leaders will form working groups that will cooperate on ways to share 
clean energy technology and best practices." 
A "strong and transparent system for measuring each country's 
performance," would be established, Bush said, but gave no indication that 
his proposal includes binding, mandatory targets for greenhouse gas 
reductions. 
Critics were quick to point out that the international community is 
already moving towards a post-Kyoto agreement for mandatory emissions 
reductions under the auspices of the United Nations and does not need this 
parallel process to discuss voluntary global warming emissions-cutting 
goals. 
"This plan doesn't actually take a large bite out of global warming 
pollution like we need to, but instead just 're-warms' old ideas," said 
Congressman Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the newly 
formed House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence 
And Global Warming. 

Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts is chairman of the House Select 
Committee on Energy Independence And Global Warming. 
"It's vitally important for America and this president to re-engage 
internationally on this issue, and agree to binding targets for reducing 
heat-trapping pollution," Markey said. "Instead, all that President Bush 
is willing to do is engage in fruitless discussions until the very end of 
his administration, leaving his successor with the task of actually doing 
something." 
President Bush said the new framework would help nations, including the 
United States, fulfill their responsibilities under the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change." 
"The United States will work with all nations that are part of this 
Convention to adapt to the impacts of climate change, gain access to clean 
and more energy-efficient technologies, and promote sustainable forestry 
and agriculture," he said. 
Long a global warming skeptic, Bush now says, "In recent years, science 
has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new 
possibilities for confronting it. The United States takes this issue 
seriously." 
Reiterating that his administration has spent more than $12 billion in 
research on clean energy technology, Bush once again emphasized his 
intention to promote clean coal and nuclear technology. 
"If you're truly interested in cleaning up the environment, or interested 
in renewable sources of energy, the best way to do so is through safe 
nuclear power," Bush said. 

Exelon's Braidwood nuclear power station is located in northeastern 
Illinois, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago. 
While President Bush and administration officials invariably refer to 
nuclear power as "clean, safe nuclear power" many problems still exist. 
The Exelon Braidwood Nuclear Facility in Illinois, for instance, has 
released radioactive tritium into the groundwater surrounding the power 
plant. 
Critics say that while nuclear power plants may not emit greenhouse gases 
directly because no fossil fuels are burned to generate power, there is 
still no good solution to the radioactive waste generated by nuclear 
plants and they are potential terrorist targets. 
"If we can get a breakthrough in clean coal technologies," President Bush 
said, "it's going to help the developing world immeasurably, and at the 
same time, help protect our environment." 
Bush also mentioned the administration's investments in solar and wind 
power and hybrid and clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel for 
transportation. 
The President cited a Department of Energy report last week showing that 
in 2006, U.S. carbon emissions decreased by 1.3 percent while the economy 
grew by 3.3 percent. "This experience shows that a strong and growing 
economy can deliver both a better life for its people and a cleaner 
environment at the same time," said Bush. 
The President is hoping to turn the G8 summit into an economic opportunity 
to better the U.S. economy by selling U.S. energy technology. 
"At the G8 summit, I'm going to encourage world leaders to increase their 
own investments in research and development," he said. 
"We're also going to work to conclude talks with other nations on 
eliminating tariffs and other barriers to clean energy technologies and 
services by the end of year," Bush said. 
If you are truly committed to helping the environment, nations need to get 
rid of their tariffs, need to get rid of those barriers that prevent new 
technologies from coming into their countries. We'll help the world's 
poorest nations reduce emissions by giving them government-developed 
technologies at low cost, or in some case, no cost at all. 
He plans to discuss ways to encourage more investment in developing 
nations by making low-cost financing options for clean energy a priority 
of the international development banks. In the case of the poorest 
nations, he proposes to give U.S. technology without charge. 

President Bush discusses global warming and clean energy technology. 

President Bush said, "The United States is taking the lead, and that's the 
message I'm going to take to the G8." 
But the President has opposed any mandatory targets for greenhouse gas 
emissions cuts in the United States and his administration has a long 
record of international obstruction on global warming. 
Recently administration officials have attempted to cut language from 
climate statements by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and 
the G8 climate statement, which includes committing to mandatory targets 
to stabilize heat-trapping emissions. 
President of the National Environmental Trust Philip Clapp said, "This is 
a transparent effort to divert attention from the President's refusal to 
accept any emissions reductions proposals at next week's G8 summit. After 
sitting out talks on global warming for years, the Bush administration 
doesn't have very much credibility with other governments on the issue. 
"All the other industrialized nations have been trying for months to get 
the President to agree to an emissions reduction framework, and the White 
House has rejected every proposal," Clapp said. "The White House is just 
trying to hide the fact that the President is completely isolated among 
the G8 leaders by calling vaguely for some agreement next year, right 
before he leaves office." 
Friends of the Earth USA is circulating a sign-on statement repudiating 
the Bush proposal announced today and apologizing to nations participating 
in the G8 meetings for the President's behavior. 
The statement says, "On behalf of the United States of America, I 
apologize for the actions of our president, George W. Bush. His rejection 
of global warming measures to be endorsed at the upcoming G8 meeting is 
shameful, and does not represent my views or those of the American 
people." 
Friends of the Earth will send the signatures and statements directly to 
the participating nations' G8 coordinating teams before next week's 
meeting - and hand deliver them to the German embassy in Washington on 
Tuesday, June 5. 
All of the other G8 countries are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, which 
means that they are legally bound to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions 
by an average of 5.2 percent by the end of 2012. 
The G8 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the 
United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission attends G8 
meetings as well. 
This year they will be joined by the leaders of five rapidly developing 
nations - Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa - and the United 
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. 
The leaders will gather June 6 to 8 at Germany's Baltic Sea resort of 
Heiligendamm.    

       
      

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