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
