Climate debate heats up G-8

President Bush's new global warming plan greeted with skepticism at this week's world summit in Germany.

from the June 4, 2007 edition

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Some US specifics

While some have complained that the US plan is vague, it has one very specific target – the 18-month time frame for coming up with provisions that are more specific, Mr. Kirton says. This is key because Bush will still be president then, he says. In his view Bush is not, as some observers see it, stalling until he is out of office.

The Bush administration is not alone in its thinking. In 2005, the nonpartisan Pew Center on Global Climate Change published recommendations for making progress toward a post-Kyoto 2012 agreement. The report was based on discussions the group had with government and business representatives from 15 countries, including the leading emitters.

Among the options the group outlined: setting up an informal dialogue to develop a consensus on what to do beyond 2012 and allowing countries to take different tacks to meeting binding commitments. Both are reflected in the Bush plan.

But the plan also differs in at least two key aspects, notes Elliot Diringer, Pew's director of international strategies. Unlike the Bush strategy, he says, diverse approaches must be part of "a system of commitments" through an overarching international agreement. "You allow for different types of commitments, but they need to be commitments," he says. The Bush plan, at least in its current form, remains only a voluntary one where it matters most, he continues. "We've tried the voluntary approach here at home and internationally, and it hasn't worked," he says.And while the president's proposal focuses on medium- and long-term goals, near-term goals are vital, too, Mr. Diringer says. "For this administration, this new plan is a step forward. But it falls well short of what's needed." Still, some European analysts see reason for hope in the Bush plan."There was a stalemate just a few days ago because Bush was saying, 'I can't agree to most of the terms of the proposal on the table.' Now he is acknowledging that there is a need for long-term targets, that he takes the whole climate problem seriously, and that he is willing to work with other countries do something about it," says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and a key adviser to Chancellor Merkel on environmental issues. "We are all in the run-up to a really new regime, and if that regime is tailored by the Americans, that would be most welcome."

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