The world needs tougher action to combat global warming than a plan by
President George W. Bush to halt a rise in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions only by
2025, delegates at a climate conference in Paris said on Thursday.
South Africa, one of 17 nations at the two-day global warming talks that started
on Thursday, called Bush's proposals "disappointing" and unambitious when many
other industrialized economies are already cutting emissions.
"There is no way whatever that we can agree to what the U.S. is proposing,"
South African Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in a
statement.
Developing nations such as China and India also want the rich, led by the United
States, to cut now.
The United Nations and France noted that studies by the U.N. Climate Panel say
that world emissions will have to peak within 10 to 15 years and then fall
sharply to avert the worst of ...