HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, 7 June 2007 — The United States quashed German hopes yesterday for a binding pact on slashing carbon emissions at a summit of rich nations, intended as the centerpiece of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s G-8 presidency.
The White House said all key polluting nations would have to be involved in any long-term agreement on climate change.
“We’ve not sat down with China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa,” Jim Connaughton, chairman of the US administration’s Council on Environmental Quality, said ahead of talks between Merkel and US President George W. Bush.
“We have not sat down with Australia, South Korea and a number of the other major emitting countries on this issue and so until we’ve got everyone in the room and until we have consensus among all of them, you won’t see a collectively stated goal on that yet but it’s coming.”
Bush insisted after meeting with Merkel on his good will to eventually striking a deal. “I come with a strong desire to work with you on a post-Kyoto agreement and about how we can achieve major objectives,” Bush said, referring to the UN-backed Kyoto Protocol on capping emissions that expires in 2012.
“One of those of courses is the reduction of greenhouse gases, another is becoming more energy independent, in our case from crude oil.” Merkel put a brave face on the impasse, calling her talks with Bush “very good and successful.” “I hope that we can join together to send a strong message,” she said.
Merkel has staked her Group of Eight presidency on pushing for agreement to limit the global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and cap carbon emissions by 50 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2050.
The German plan has won qualified support from some G-8 nations, but Merkel has faced stiff US opposition over her call for mandatory emissions limits.
She wants the G-8 to show leadership ahead of negotiations in Bali, Indonesia, in December to find a successor to Kyoto.
In the face of strong resistance to a deal, the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Merkel preferred to let the summit fail than agree to a watered-down climate pact.
