President George W. Bush went on the offensive on climate change Friday, proposing a summit next year among major emitters of greenhouse gases that would set a long-term global goal for curbing this dangerous pollution.
Bush also endorsed the UN as the final arena for tackling global warming, but gave not an inch of ground to those demanding that the United States take a mandatory approach to tackling carbon emissions.
Speaking at a gathering of the world's 16 biggest polluters, Bush declared: "Together, our nations will pave the way for a new international approach on greenhouse-gas emissions."
"(...) We will set a long-term goal for reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions," he said.
"By setting this goal, we acknowledge there is a problem. And by setting this goal, we commit ourselves to doing something about it.
"By next summer, we will convene a meeting of heads of state to finalize the goal and other elements of this approach, including a strong and transparent system for measuring our progress towards meeting the goal we set."
But Bush also rammed home the message that the United States, hugely dependent on oil, stood by its six-year-long opposition to setting mandatory caps on its own emissions.
"Our guiding principle is clear. We must lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions and we must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people," he said.
"(...) Each nation will design its own separate strategies for making progress towards this long-term goal. These strategies will reflect each country's different energy resources, different stages of development and different economic needs."
Bush gave no indication as to what he thought would be a safe long-term goal for greenhouse-gas emissions.
The European Union (EU), Canada and Japan share the goal of halving annual global emissions by 50 percent by 2050, but the United States so far has not proposed any figure, nor does it have a national emissions target.
Bush also proposed the 16 economies "join together to create a new international clean technology fund," supported by government contributions from around the world, to "help finance clean energy projects in the developing world."
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be asked to coordinate the initiative, he said.
He offered an olive branch to those who had suspected that the Washington meeting -- staged in the runup to new global climate talks in December -- aimed at undercutting the UN process and pushing through a US-led agenda for easier, voluntary emissions cuts.
To applause, he hoped the Washington approach would advance negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty of the Kyoto Protocol.
The 16 nations gathered in Washington were Australia, Britain, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States. They were represented at ministerial level or below.
Representatives from the EU presidency and commission and from the UNFCCC are also there.
These economies together account for about two-thirds of the world's population, 80 percent of the global economy and about 80 percent of global emissions, according to US figures.
Bush clearly took the Washington meeting by surprise by going public with his summit proposal. The idea had been put on the agenda by the United States but flagged only as a "tentative" proposal.
Representing the EU, Portugal's deputy environment minister, Humberto Rosa, told AFP, "I was not aware of the intention of a summit, but that is for our leaders to decide."
Asked if he thought this amounted to a form of diplomatic ambush by the US president, he said, "On the contrary, I think it's good to hear President Bush speak with such a firm and strong message on climate change, which is in such a sharp contrast to the attitude some time ago.
"The world should all look at this as a hopeful sign, but of course we are still in the need to see how this (US) national effort and tone of President Bush will feed into the international process."
On Thursday, the meeting discussed ways of encouraging businesses and harnessing cleaner technology in the attack on global warming.
