President George W. Bush hailed a “deciding moment” in the battle against climate change on Friday, urging rich and poor countries to build a new international approach to the problem.
“Our children will look back at the choices we make today at this deciding moment ... to turn back the tide of greenhouse gases instead of allowing the problem to grow,” he said.
But Mr Bush made it clear at the meeting of 16 countries, including China and India, in Washington DC that the US wanted developing countries to bear a greater share of the burden of cutting greenhouse gases than they had until now.
He said: “This approach must include all the largest emitters, including developed and developing nations.”
Mr Bush called for the countries attending the meeting to fix a global long-term goal for emissions cuts by next summer, when he proposes to hold a further meeting of heads of government. Such a goal would be presented to the United Nations as part of negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto protocol, the main provisions of which expire in 2012.
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