The Hindu : International : G-8: America gives way on climate change

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Monday, Jul 04, 2005

International

International

G-8: America gives way on climate change

Gaby Hinsliff, Ned Temko and Mark Townsend

Action plan to clean up land and air transport, prevent world energy crisis

LONDON: A historic deal on climate change which would see the U.S. sign up to cut greenhouse gas emissions was on Saturday night emerging after a day of frantic negotiations ahead of the G-8 summit.

The draft text hammered out by officials meeting in London is expected to pledge the world's richest countries to wean themselves off fossil fuels — not just to save the planet, but to prevent a worldwide energy crisis.

An action plan to be unveiled at the Gleneagles, Scotland, summit this week will centre on a package to clean up land and air transport, and provide green technology to developing countries through a deal brokered by the World Bank.

U.S. concedes cause

The first hope of a breakthrough came on Saturday as the White House finally conceded that human activity was at least the partial cause of global warming.

But with British Prime Minister Tony Blair still pushing for more concrete action to clean up the planet, the final text is expected to gloss over differences between the U.S. and other countries over the science of global warming by saying the changes are also necessary to prevent an energy crisis. With oil prices soaring to $60 a barrel and fossil fuel supplies finite, the U.S. President George W. Bush is understood to have been swayed by fears over energy security.

"We were never going to get the Americans to accept everything on the science front or sign up to Kyoto: that was clear. But what they do accept is that there is climate change and that for reasons of energy security and just reducing pollution, they favour measures that reduce our dependence on carbon-based fuels," said a Whitehall source.

"The motivation might be different but the net results and the impact are the same."

French threat

French sources, meanwhile, suggested threats to produce a communique leaving the U.S. out had been effective, with the British and the French working together to bring the Americans on board.

The text completed on Saturday includes a pledge to cut greenhouse emissions — a reference to the Kyoto treaty which America did not sign up to, and recognition of man's impact on global warming. —

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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