US 'opposed' to green G8 plans
Germany wants G8 leaders to agree to reduce global warming
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Saturday, 26, May 2007 02:00
The US has rejected German plans to get G8 countries to sign up to tough new targets to cut carbon emissions, a leaked document appears to show.
Amendments apparently made by US officials to a draft communique which will be presented at next month's meeting of G8 leaders in Germany refer to Washington's "fundamental opposition" to the climate change proposals.
Changes to the document, supposedly leaked by environmental group Greenpeace and cited in several reports, also reveal that while US officials feel they have attempted to "tread lightly" over the issue they remain apprehensive that their concerns have not been noted.
Red ink comments made to a copy of the draft communique state: "The US still has serious, fundamental concerns about this draft statement.
"The treatment of climate change runs counter to our overall position and crosses 'multiple red lines' in terms of what we simply cannot agree to," the note continues.
"We have tried to 'tread lightly' but there is only so far we can go given our fundamental opposition to the German position," US officials appear to conclude.
The emergence of the leaked document indicates that US opposition could thwart German hopes of securing a climate change deal during the forthcoming G8 summit, which will be held in the luxury resort of Heiligendamm between June 6th and 8th.
German chancellor Angela Merkel plans to use her country's current presidency of the G8 to forge an agreement to curb the rise in average temperatures this century to two degrees Celsius.
She also wants G8 nations to agree to cut global emissions so that they are 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Commenting on the leaked document illustrating apparent US opposition to the plans, Greenpeace director John Sauven said the paper showed that British prime minister Tony Blair had "singularly failed" to persuade American president George Bush of the need to tackle climate change.
Last week Mr Blair told the BBC2's Newsnight that he thought the US, which previously rejected the 2001 Kyoto Protocol on climate change, would sign up to "at least the beginnings" of a plan to limit carbon emissions at the G8 summit.