In a follw-up to my August blog posting about President Bush's climate change summit, it looks like the Bush administration is still pushing for voluntary GHG emission reductions rather than the mandatory emission reduction plan in the Kyoto Protocol. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that the purpose of the summit was not to undermine the efforts of the United Nations. She said the United States is one of the largest GHG emitters and is serious about "expanding our leadership to address the problem". "We appreciate the sentiments expressed by Secretary Rice, but the devil is always in the detail," South African Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told Reuters. "That is still the crux of the difference between the approach of the U.S. and the approach of the rest of the world," he said, referring to the split over voluntary and mandatory targets. "For us this meeting is obviously to determine if the U.S. is willing to change (its) approach on that issue." John Ashton, Britain's climate envoy, said: "We know that a voluntary approach to global warming is about as effective as a voluntary speed limit sign in the road...We don't just need an approach that works; we need an approach that works very quickly." Earlier in the week, President Bush chose not to attend the U.N. meeting on climate change, but the chief U.N. climate change representative said he thought these discussions may help with the U.N.'s efforts. In a meeting slated for this December in Bali, Indonesia, U.N. representatives will consider a way to cut emissions after the Kyoto pact expires in 2012. By Cassandra Darwin
cdarwin@enviance.com | 
