Bush: 'Significant progress' on climate change
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
July 9, 2008
Page 2 of 2
In an early morning meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bush defended a languishing deal his administration negotiated to sell India nuclear fuel and technology. The deal, which would reverse three decades of U.S. policy by allowing the sale of atomic fuel and technology to India, faces significant opposition on both sides.
Bush took no questions from reporters at the closing of the meeting. Nor did he address criticisms that emerged about the G-8's positions, such as the contention by some environmentalists that the G-8 stance on global warming amounted to political window-dressing.
But he did say he and his summit partners had "served both our interests as Americans, and we've served the interests of the world."
Bush was instrumental in broadening the global warming discussions beyond the G-8 membership. But he won't be in office long enough to see the next chapter of the contentious climate change debate play out.
Notwithstanding their achievement of a sweeping climate change declaration with the broad goal of the 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2050, the leaders couldn't agree on any additional specific numerical targets. And not everybody signed onto the 2050 goal.
In fact, five of the developing nations at the expanded meeting -- China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa -- issued their own statement rejecting the notion that all share in the 50-percent reduction goal. "It is essential that developed countries take the lead in achieving ambitious and absolute greenhouse gas emissions reductions," said the statement.
"We're not in complete convergence yet," acknowledged Jim Connaughton, one of Bush's top environmental advisers.
It was, nevertheless, the first time that heads of state from the U.S. and the seven other major economic powerhouses sat down to talk about global warming at the same table with China, India and six other emerging economies. Altogether the 16 countries are responsible for spewing 80 percent of the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Environmentalists deplored the statement the leaders released after the meeting, saying it was meaningless without any targets.
"To be meaningful and credible, a long-term goal must have a base year, it must be underpinned by ambitious midterm targets and actions," said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, who called the G-8 statement an "empty slogan."
The discussion on global warming is a run-up to U.N.-led efforts to craft a new climate change accord at a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. That new accord would succeed the Kyoto Protocol that starts to expire in 2012.
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