Bush rejects Kyoto-style G8 deal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4647383.stm
July 3, 2005
President George W Bush has ruled out US backing for any Kyoto-style deal on climate change at the G8 summit.
Speaking to Britain's ITV television, he said he would instead be talking to fellow leaders about new technologies as a way of tackling global warming.
But he conceded that the issue was one "we've got to deal with" and said human activity was "to some extent" to blame.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is hoping for deals on climate change and Africa at the summit in Scotland this week.
Mr Bush said he would resist any deal that would require countries to reduce carbon emissions - similar to the 1997 UN Kyoto protocol, which the US never signed.
"If this looks like Kyoto, the answer is no," he said in an interview with ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald programme.
"The Kyoto treaty would have wrecked our economy, if I can be blunt."
He said he hoped the other G8 leaders would "move beyond the Kyoto debate" and consider new technologies as a way of tackling global warming.
Farm subsidies
The US was investing in developing techniques such as sequestration of carbon dioxide in underground wells, hydrogen-powered cars and zero emission power stations, he said.
"I think you can grow your economy and at the same time do a better job of harnessing greenhouse gases," he said.
But he showed signs of coming into line with general world opinion by describing climate change as "a significant, long-term issue that we've got to deal with".
In the past, he has strongly opposed any action on climate change in favour of further studies on the issue.
But he rejected the idea he should support Mr Blair's G8 plan in return for his support during the war in Iraq.
"Tony Blair made decisions on what he thought was best for keeping the peace and winning the war on terror, as I did," he told the programme.
"So I go to the G8 not really trying to make him look bad or good, but I go to the G8 with an agenda that I think is best for our country."
On the other major issue to be discussed at the summit, African aid and debt relief, he signalled he was ready to abandon US farm subsidies, which have unfairly distorted the market for African farmers.
But he said he would only do it, if the European Union was prepared to scrap its Common Agricultural Policy.
"We've got agricultural subsidies, not nearly to the extent that our friends in the EU have," he said.
The G8 leaders - from Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US - meet in Gleneagles on Wednesday for the start of the three-day summit.
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