President Bush proposes greenhouse emissions cap by 2025; no new policies, legislation offered; reaction tepid to hostile from G20 countries and NGOs

April 17, 2008

US President George W. Bush called for the US to cap greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, while delegates to a Paris climate conference offered tepid encouragement and others outright opposition to the proposal.

“There is no way whatever that we can agree to what the U.S. is proposing,” South African Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said, while Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Secretariat, said “It’s good to have something on the table”.

Critics said that climate change models suggest that industrialized countries must reach a peak in emissions between 2018 and 2022, not 2025, in order to avert catastrophic climate change. The President did not offer any new policies or legislation in his announcement.

Remarks by Jim Connaughton, Chairman of the Council of Environmental Quality, are here.
President Bush’s full-text.
Video of announcement

In his State of the Union address in January, President Bush called for an international clean energy fund, for the inclusion of China and India in a new emissions treaty, and continued investment in renewable fuels.

On energy, he said:

“Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions. Let us increase the use of renewable power and emissions-free nuclear power.

“Let us continue investing in advanced battery technology and renewable fuels to power the cars and trucks of the future.

“Let us create a new international clean technology fund, which will help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources.

“And let us complete an international agreement that has the potential to slow, stop and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases. This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride.”

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Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Policy