London (Platts)--29Aug2007

The United States does not intend to join a global carbon market "as a
country," according to the country's leading climate negotiator.

     Speaking in Vienna Wednesday, Dr Harlan Watson, the senior US climate
negotiator, said there is already a fairly active voluntary carbon market in
the US, and that various state- or regional-level initiatives are under way.

     Watson specifically referred to emissions trading schemes being crafted
in Australia and Canada, as well as the EU Emission Trading Scheme that has
been running since 2005, and said that "knitting all the various [national
schemes] together into a global carbon market is going to take some time."

     Watson also pointed out that the US is not a ratified member of the Kyoto
Protocol and so cannot participate in the present markets created under that
agreement.

     US WILL ESTABLISH EMISSION REDUCTION TARGET

     Earlier, Watson said that the US expects to establish a national
emissions reduction target as part of a post-2012 framework agreement on
climate change.

     "We expect to refine our national policies and strategies and I would
expect we will also come forward with what we believe is our contribution [to
a global agreement]," Watson said Wednesday.

     Watson also said that a post-2012 framework agreement would likely differ
from the present Kyoto Protocol by including more commitments in areas such as
adaptation to the impacts of climate change and technology transfer.

     He said that a post-2012 agreement would incorporate a "broad and
comprehensive package" that included elements of the Kyoto Protocol as well as
elements under discussion as part of the UNFCCC's ongoing dialogue on
long-term co-operative action on climate change.