Energy & Environment

Documents & Texts from America.gov

09 July 2008
Bush Praises Significant Progress on Climate Change

By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Staff Writer

Related:
• Transcript of President Bush's remarks
• Declaration of Leaders Meeting of Major Economies on Energy Security and Climate Change
• Fact Sheet: the Major Economies Leaders Meeting Making Progress Toward A Future International Climate Change Agreement

Washington -- President Bush praised the major world economies for making significant progress during the final day at the Group of Eight forum by agreeing that there must be a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by developed and developing nations if there is to be any hope of reining in global warming by mid-century.

"In order to address climate change, all major economies must be at the table. And that's what took place today," Bush said as the G8 closed its three-day forum on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido July 9. "The G8 expressed our desire to have a significant reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. We made it clear and the other nations agreed that they must also participate in an ambitious goal."

In a declaration issued July 8, the G8 agreed that developed and developing economies must try to achieve a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and noted that the G8 nations alone cannot achieve that goal. The G8 nations are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. The president of the European Union also meets with the G8 countries.

The G8 met with leaders from major economies Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea to take up climate-change issues. The process of meeting with emerging major economies began last year at the Heiligendamm Summit. The group released a declaration that called for all of them to work toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions; though this declaration did not set any specific reduction levels, it did call for mid-term goals and commitments.

"One way to meet objectives is to invest in technology, both at the national and international levels, both through the private and public sectors," Bush said at a briefing after the forum concluded. "The United States, Japan and United Kingdom launched what's called a Clean Technology Fund. It's a way to help developing nations afford the technologies so that they can become good stewards of the environment."

Bush said the major industrialized nations are taking steps to promote clean technologies by cooperating on research and development. "I firmly believe that we can become less dependent on oil through new technology, and obviously we're going to have to spend some money on research and development to be able to achieve that objective," he said.

The president said this meeting of major economies on climate change was a historic gathering. "In the more than 20 years of climate and energy-security discussions, the leaders of the major economies have never assembled before to either discuss past actions or discuss sort of the political impetus going forward," said James Connaughton, chairman of the president's Council on Environmental Quality.

Connaughton said the major economies declaration emphasizes the need for ambitious, realistic and achievable steps. He said some of the other world leaders supported the G8 position of reducing emissions 50 percent by mid-century, but some others are "not quite ready to support that."

Bush met with a number of world leaders on the sidelines of the G8 meetings over three days. He and Chinese President Hu Jintao discussed the current state of U.S.-China relations July 9, touching on areas of cooperation on economic trade, counterterrorism and energy protection. Bush said they also discussed human rights and political freedom. The two leaders will meet again in August when Bush is in Beijing for the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

TRADE, SICKNESS, FOOD, ENERGY

Bush said the G8 leaders emphasized the critical importance of concluding the Doha Round of trade negotiations by the end of this year. The negotiations are designed to reduce trade barriers and liberalize trade among world markets. "We want to make sure markets are open for agricultural goods and manufacturing goods and services," he said. "We also recognize that the best way to help alleviate poverty is through trade."

On the first day of the forum, the G8 met with African leaders on alleviating sickness, expanding training for health care workers and enhancing economic cooperation. Bush said the G8 committed $60 billion over five years to fight HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

"I'm pleased to report the G8 leaders pledged to provide 100 million long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets by 2010 to help deal with malaria," he said. "As you know, the United States has been in the forefront of trying to help nations eradicate malaria, and the G8 nations stepped forward to support our efforts."

The United States and its G8 partners are also committed to expand health care to treat neglected tropical diseases, with a goal of reaching 75 percent of victims in the most affected countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America within five years, Bush said.

"And finally, we agreed on steps to deal with hunger and high energy prices," he said. "We agreed to meet short-term food needs by providing emergency food shipments, and increasing access to fertilizer and seeds, and encouraging other nations to eliminate their export restrictions."

Bush said the major economic powers also agreed to long-term plans to double production of key food staples in several African countries, accelerate access to new agricultural technology, and seek an increase in the amount of food aid supplied by local producers.

On high energy prices, Bush said the leaders agreed to deal with both supply issues and demand issues, including an increase in oil production and refining capacity.

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