George Bush’s new green agenda
New York. George Bush is a man on a (green) mission. On Thursday May 31 2007, the US president announced his plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (photo: Old oil rig in Texas ©Jarin Blaschke). “In recent years, science has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new possibilities for confronting it. The United States takes this issue seriously”, Mr. Bush said in a speech in Washington. Coming from a man, who doubted scientific findings about global warming in 2000, such an assessment could be considered “revolutionary”. In 2001, a few weeks after he had arrived at the White House, George Bush reversed a campaign promise and rejected the Kyoto Treaty on global warming. On May 31 2007, George Bush invited other major economic players such as China and India to take part in negotiations aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions. He hopes to reach an agreement by the end of 2008 and to be able to set a long-term target to curb these emissions. He wants to get industry leaders involved in the discussion, something he has long advocated for. Such a move would be a major shift for George Bush, who always declined to set mandatory caps for greenhouse gas emissions. On February 14 2002, he said he wanted to require US companies “to have a permit for each ton of pollution [they] emit”. He added that these permits should be “tradeable” in order give the companies a financial incentive to pollute less. The president now seems to be pushing for a similar policy and environmental advocates are deeply skeptical of his intentions. “This speech on climate change is a lot more about whether Mr Bush goes down in history as the president, who did not see global warming coming”, said Angela Anderson, vice president for climate programs at the National Environmental Trust in Washington. In the last few years, the president’s view on climate change evolved considerably. After recognizing for the first time in July 2005 that “an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem”, George Bush mentioned climate change for the first time in his State of the Union speech in January 2007. There are quite a few reasons for this new approach on global warming. Former vice president Gore played a role with his documentary. Mr Bush is also facing a strong opposition from individual states such as California, which keep pushing for a cut in greenhouse gas emissions. On May 8 2007, a group of businesses - including BP, Shell and General Motors - and environmental organizations launched the US Climate Action Partnership to call on the Bush administration and Congress to quickly pass national legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. “The president is warming up to throw his opening pitch while business, states and the rest of the world are already at the top of the ninth inning,” said in a statement on May 31 NRDC Climate Center Policy Director and former climate treaty negotiator David Doniger. “It is nothing less than embarrassing that three of the worlds biggest oil companies are calling for tougher measure than the White House.” “The administration tactic is to appear to be taking action”, said Angela Anderson. “But George Bush’s initiative is definitely an attempt to rebut the much more ambitious European proposals”. The speech divided European leaders. Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, welcomed it while Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, remained cautious. Germany’s recent plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050 was rejected by the US. Democrats in Congress are trying to pass a bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but they are not united. Some lawmakers from mining states are pushing for big subsidies for coal energy. The US is aiming for independence from foreign oil and these Representatives are arguing that coal could be the perfect alternative to oil. Environmental groups disagree. They claim coal-based fuels could produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as petroleum. Jean-Cosme Delaloye CommentsYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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