Next President Better Than Bush on Climate - Barroso


NORWAY: February 26, 2008


OSLO - Any of the top three US presidential hopefuls would be better than President George W. Bush at combating climate change, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday.


"The trend is on the right side, but there is a lot of work to do," Barroso said of the outlook for US policy on fighting global warming during a seminar on climate change and energy security in the Norwegian capital.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain all favour setting caps on US emissions of greenhouse gases -- something Bush has so far rejected despite pressure from his allies.

"Any of the candidates: Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton or John McCain, will be more committed to combating climate change than the present administration," Barroso said in answer to a question.

The United States is the only developed nation outside the UN's Kyoto Protocol after Australia's new Labor government signed up in December.


FLOODS AND DROUGHTS

Kyoto seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of at least five percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12 in a first step to stave off rising temperatures that the UN Climate Panel says will bring more floods, droughts and rising seas.

US emissions were 16 percent above 1990 levels in 2005. Emissions by many Kyoto nations are also far over goal -- Barroso's homeland Portugal is 43 percent above 1990 levels even though the EU overall is on target.

Barroso said he expects Europe "to again take the lead" at climate talks in Copenhagen in late 2009, when a global agreement to curb emission of greenhouse gases is expected. Bush will step down in January 2009.

About 190 nations agreed at UN talks in Bali, Indonesia, in December last year to launch two years of negotiations on a new climate treaty to widen Kyoto with commitments for all nations, including developing countries such as China and India.

The EU has a goal of cutting emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and will increase the cuts to 30 percent if other nations are willing.

Sen. Obama of Illinois, for instance, says he would introduce a cap and trade system that would help cut carbon emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Sen. McCain of Arizona is the sponsor of one of the first bills to curb climate warming emissions.

And New York Sen. Clinton is a member of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Commission, which approved a first carbon-capping bill in December.

-- For Reuters latest environment blogs go to: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/

(Editing by Peter Millership)


Story by Alister Doyle and Wojciech Moskwa


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE