Bush calls September climate conference

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush has invited the world's major polluters to a September 27-28 conference to set long-term goals on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, the White House said yesterday.

Environmental groups have called the plan, which Bush proposed in a speech on May 31, a diversion from other global efforts to combat global warming, while Washington says it complements UN-driven talks on the issue.

Bush asked Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and South Korea in separate letters late Thursday to send representatives to Washington for the meeting, officials said.

The US president also invited delegations from Europe -- to include officials from the European Union and representatives from Britain, France, Germany, and Italy -- and the United Nations, the White House said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host the talks in Washington, and the US president will address the meeting.

"The United States is committed to collaborating with other major economies to agree on a detailed contribution for a new global framework by the end of 2008, which would contribute to a global agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by 2009," Bush said in his invitation.

"In addition, we expect to place special emphasis on how major economies can, in close cooperation with the private sector, accelerate the development and deployment of clean technologies, a critical component of an effective global approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

The United States, the world's number one emitter of greenhouse gases, has refused to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which mandates cuts in the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. It expires in 2012.

Bush has cited the pact's exemptions for China and India, as developing nations, from mandatory targets on greenhouse gas output, as a chief reason for not submitting the protocol for Senate ratification.

Both countries -- whose energy-hungry economies are major consumers of oil, gas, and coal -- are fast becoming major emitters of greenhouse gases.

The Union of Concerned Scientists advocacy group said that, given Bush's opposition to Kyoto, the world wanted to see whether he would "put any meaningful proposals on the table."

"Binding commitments to reduce emissions, together with policies that put a price on global warming pollution, are needed to get the job done," said Alden Meyer, UCS director of strategy and policy.

"Until President Bush is willing to accept this reality, the process he is launching next month is unlikely to make any significant contribution to addressing the climate crisis," Meyer said in a statement.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon this week appealed to all countries to do their utmost to seal a new climate change deal by 2009 and have it in force by the time the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012.

UN negotiations on a new protocol on climate change will begin in earnest at a conference in Bali in December.

And Australian Prime Minister John Howard has flagged climate change as a major topic of talks at the Asia-Pacific Economic (APEC) forum Leaders Week in Sydney in September, which Bush is scheduled to attend.

James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, will lead the US delegation, which will also include economic, energy, and environmental officials, Bush said in his letter.