Bush eyes climate change deal
2008-06-10 19:02
Brdo - US President George W Bush said on Tuesday he believes he can clinch a deal with the European Union on combating climate change by the end of the year.
But his EU host, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, stressed that fundamental differences between the two sides remained.
Speaking after an EU-US summit in Brdo, Slovenia, Jansa was asked by reporters how he rated the chances of a deal being reached in "the coming years".
To which Bush replied: "I don't want to preclude the prime minister's answer, (but) I think we can actually get an agreement on global climate change during my presidency, just so you know."
Bush's predictions appeared bold in the face of enduring divisions over how to tackle emissions.
The EU's 27 member states have already committed themselves to cutting their emissions of greenhouse gas by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020, and its leaders say the world's most developed countries should lead by example.
But Bush has repeatedly argued that he is not willing to sign up to a deal if it is not also endorsed by other big polluting nations such as China and India.
Bush said: "We have a strategy that we think will be effective at addressing global climate change.
"Unless China and India are at the table and unless they agree to the goal ... then I don't see how any international agreement can be effective."
Only last week, US Senate efforts to pass a Climate Security Act designed to introduce a cap-and-trade system and impose limits on greenhouse-gas emissions were shelved because of opposition by Bush's own Republican Party.
In a joint declaration issued after the meeting in Slovenia, Bush and EU leaders limited themselves to a vaguely-worded statement in which they vowed to secure an agreement "by the end of 2009".
World leaders hope to secure a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, at a summit due to take place in Copenhagen next year. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA