Bush to state climate change goals

New York, Apr 16: In a marked turn-around from his earlier policy of steering clear from the topic, US President George Bush will today announce his vision for fighting global climate change. He pledged last year to extract by the end of 2008 a shared long-term goal of this sort from a dozen or so countries responsible for 85 per cent of emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, including emerging giants China and India.

''This will ensure that all major economies like France, Germany, China and India play a role in any international agreement so as to avoid a future Kyoto-like effect,'' White House press secretary Dana Perino said, referring to the 1997 treaty which did not require high-polluting developing countries to reduce emissions.

A two-day meeting of that group of ''major economies'' is scheduled to start in Paris from tomorrow, the New York Times reported.

The president's speech would lay out goals for countering environmental pollution over the next 20-50 years.

This speech is not going to lay out a specific proposal, she said, adding ''It is a speech that will talk about a strategy for a way forward, and principles for dealing with the problem.'' Nations, however, would have to show their commitment by listing actions, including mandatory steps, they would take domestically in coming decades to stay on track. Parallel talks would continue on a new climate treaty, to be negotiated by the end of 2009.

UNI