WASHINGTON - Friday 28th 2007

US President Bush Friday called for the creation of a global fund to promote clean technology that would be led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and for a “strong and transparent” way for nations to measure progress on fighting climate change but said that each country should set its own approach.

Bush’s speech to a U.S.-sponsored conference of major emitting countries indicated that a long-term goal for reducing global warming was needed but that “each nation will design its own separate strategies for making progress toward achieving this.”

Bush has been under pressure from the world’s major economies to accept binding limits on emissions of greenhouse gases and to end his six years of isolation from the global task force for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. In his speech, he continued to emphasize voluntary approaches to tackling climate change and called the meeting as a precursor to United Nations talks in Bali in December, which will aim to launch a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that set limits on industrial nations’ emissions.

More articles:

• Washington Post - Bush Seeks new image on Global Warming
• Canada National - Climate Change Progress must be measurable
• Guardian Unlimited - Europeans angry after Bush climate speech ‘charade’

Meanwhile, the Guardian Unlimited reported that:

“George Bush was castigated by European diplomats and found himself isolated yesterday after a special conference on climate change ended without any progress.

European ministers, diplomats and officials attending the Washington conference were scathing, particularly in private, over Mr Bush’s failure once again to commit to binding action on climate change.

Although the US and Britain have been at odds over the environment since the early days of the Bush administration, the gap has never been as wide as yesterday.

Britain and almost all other European countries, including Germany and France, want mandatory targets for reducing greenhouse emissions. Mr Bush, while talking yesterday about a “new approach” and “a historic undertaking”, remains totally opposed.

The conference, attended by more than 20 countries, including China, India, Britain, France and Germany, broke up with the US isolated, according to non-Americans attending. One of those present said even China and India, two of the biggest polluters, accepted that the voluntary approach proposed by the US was untenable and favoured binding measures, even though they disagreed with the Europeans over how this would be achieved.

A senior European diplomat attending the conference, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting confirmed European suspicions that it had been intended by Mr Bush as a spoiler for a major UN conference on climate change in Bali in December.

“It was a total charade and has been exposed as a charade,” the diplomat said. “I have never heard a more humiliating speech by a major leader. He [Mr Bush] was trying to present himself as a leader while showing no sign of leadership. It was a total failure.”

Germany’s environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel, said after Bush’s speech at the State Department before representatives of the nations that are the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases:

“This here was a great step for the Americans and a small step for mankind, … In substance, we are still far apart.”

In his speech, Bush acknowledged that climate change is real and that human activity is a factor. He stated:

“By setting this goal, we acknowledge there is a problem, and by setting this goal, we commit ourselves to doing something about it, …. We share a common responsibility: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while keeping our economies growing.”

European diplomats welcomed Bush’s speech as the long-awaited attempt to build a bridge by the world’s No. 1 carbon polluter. Friends of the Earth US President stated:

“Instead of getting serious about reducing emissions, he proposes a voluntary approach that will lead to global warming catastrophe … Rather than joining the rest of the world and doing all he can to support the United Nations framework, he proposes separate meetings to sidetrack the UN process.”

The Guardian Unlimited reported that many US states have already embarked on their own programmes, with California leading the way. California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has signed into law, a 25% cut in greenhouse gas emissions requirements by 2020, with penalties for industries that do not comply. The state’s three biggest utilities must produce at least 20% of their electricity using renewable sources by 2010.