WASHINGTON — Amid a mounting sense of urgency about the need for action to slow climate change, President Bush this week will be playing what is, for him, an unusually prominent role in high-level diplomatic meetings on how to confront global warming.
What he will not do, officials said, is chart any shift in policies that have put him at odds with much of the world on the issue.
Monday, at a private dinner on climate change hosted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Bush will join about two dozen other heads of state, several from countries most vulnerable to higher temperatures and rising seas. On Thursday, he will address a White House-hosted climate change conference that will include senior officials from rapidly developing nations such as China, India and Brazil, which have been reluctant to divert economic resources to curb their rising greenhouse gas emissions.
Top Bush administration officials said the president is not planning to alter his opposition to mandatory limits on greenhouse gases or to stray from his emphasis on promoting new technologies, especially for nuclear power and for the storage of carbon dioxide produced by coal plants.
James Connaughton, head of the president’s Council on Environmental Quality, said the president’s goal is to come up with standard “harmonized” tools for measuring carbon dioxide emissions; review current climate policies around the world; kick off talks about ways to cut greenhouse gases in specific sectors of the economy; and aim for a “solid handoff to the next president, regardless of party.” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. is expected also to propose lower tariffs and export credits for clean energy technology.
That could disappoint many of the diplomats, activists, experts and business executives converging on New York and Washington next week with higher hopes.
“It’s a great initiative that (Bush) has taken,” said Lars Josefsson, an adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “But of course with that initiative, he also takes on a responsibility, which means he has to deliver.”
Connaughton said the administration prefers measures that would limit emissions or promote technologies in specific sectors of the economy, such as raising auto fuel economy and appliance efficiency standards.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
