HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 6 (Xinhua) -- European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday that the United States,
the world's biggest greenhouse gas producer, has to take stronger measures to
tackle climate change.
Europe has yet to see more "contribution" by the
United States in the fight against climate change, Barroso told reporters before
the G8 summit of leading industrialized nations in the northern German resort of
Heiligendamm.
However, the recent U.S. plan on the issue is "a step
in the right direction," and hopefully the Heiligendamm meeting can "make a
difference" for climate change.
Still, the UN conference in Bali, Indonesia,
scheduled in December, "has to remain the basis for setting binding, measurable
and enforceable targets" to help stop global warming, he said.
Germany, which holds the rotating G8 presidency,
calls for actions to limit the rise in global temperatures to two degrees
Celsius this century and to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent below 1990 levels
by 2050.
However, the United States, the world's biggest
greenhouse gas producer, voiced opposition to the German proposal, making
climate change one of the most controversial issues during the upcoming G8
summit.
Shortly before the summit, U.S. President George W
Bush announced a separate plan, calling on 15 of the world's biggest greenhouse
emitters to meet and agree on long-term goals by the end of 2008.
The United States, which has not signed the Kyoto
Treaty, remains opposed to mandatory targets, citing that environmental
protection cannot come at the price of hurting economic growth.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that
she expects "intensive debate" during the three-day summit which will focus on
climate change, the development in Africa, the Doha Round of the World Trade
Organization, the U.S. plan of deploying a missile defense shield in Central
Europe.
Leaders from the G8 nations will kick off their
annual summit later Wednesday.
The G8 club gathers Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S.
President George W. Bush said Wednesday that he has a "strong desire" to work
with other world leaders for a post-Kyoto Protocol agreement designed to tackle
climate change.
Bush made the remarks after a meeting with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel before the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leading
industrialized nations in the northern German resort of Heiligendamm. Full story
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 6 (Xinhua) -- No fixed
targets to fight global warming will come out of the Group of Eight (G8) summit
as the United States and Germany remain far apart on the issue, reports said
Wednesday.
Washington and Berlin have apparently failed to agree on
fixed targets in the fight against global warming at talks ahead of the G8
summit, the German press service DPA said. Full story
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