May 29, 2007

U.S. Could Clash With G8 Over Climate Deal

Germany and some of its partners in the Group of 8 leading industrial economies are bracing for a major conflict with the U.S. at a summit meeting next week, with the Bush administration expected to block a declaration on global warming, The Boston Globe reports.

Greenpeace has published a leaked document (PDF) showing that the US. had raised serious new objections to a proposed global warming declaration prepared by the German hosts, Forbes reports.

Unattributed comments written on a draft summit communique, which Greenpeace said were written by U.S. officials and handed to it by an undisclosed third party, suggest the White House has major reservations, International Business Times reports.

“The U.S. still has serious, fundamental concerns about this draft statement,” the notes on the document read. “The treatment of climate change runs counter to our overall position and crosses multiple ‘red lines’ in terms of what we simply cannot agree to.”

The chancellery and the Foreign Ministry will hold meetings this week with leading American and Asian officials. In particular, the U.S. said it did not want to be tied down to targets designed to reduce carbon emissions or raise overall energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2020.

Greenpeace’s take is here.

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