US climate proposals “simply not enough”, say delegates as Washington climate conference ends

The two-day conference of the 17 “Heavy Smoker” major polluting nations ended with disappointment over President George Bush’s call for voluntary emission targets set by each individual country.

The British climate envoy called the US “isolated” and the South African Environment Minister said “the US needs to go back to the drawing board”.

The talks were a prelude to a December conference at Bali that is designed to produce a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Treaty. The US rejected Kyoto after the 2000 Presidential elections when President Bush indicated he preferred voluntary emission targets.

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