U.S. blasted at climate conference

MONTREAL — The United States came under renewed criticism Tuesday as thousands of environmentalists and international officials hammered out rules for a global treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. comments that it would resist any binding commitment to curb global warming by capping industrial emissions infuriated environmentalists, who accused Washington of trying to derail the U.N. Climate Change Conference.

"When you walk around the conference hall here, delegates are saying there are lots of issues on the agenda, but there's only one real problem, and that's the United States," said Bill Hare of Greenpeace International.

More than 8,000 environmentalists, scientists and government officials were attending the 10-day conference in Montreal. Some 120 environment ministers and other government leaders were expected to arrive next week for the final negotiations.

The conference is the first meeting of the 140 countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol since the agreement was adopted in 1997. It is aimed at setting agreements on emissions cuts planned after 2012, when the second phase of the protocol begins.

The Kyoto agreement targets carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases blamed for rising global temperatures and disrupted weather patterns. It calls on the top 35 industrialized nations to cut emissions to 5.2 percent below their 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.

The United States, the world's largest emitter of polluting gases, has refused to ratify the agreement, saying it would harm the U.S. economy and is flawed by the lack of restrictions on emissions by emerging economies such as China and India. President Bush called for an 18 percent reduction in the U.S. growth rate of greenhouse gases by 2012 and has committed $5 billion a year on science and technology to combat global warming.

Harlan Watson, chief climate control negotiator for the U.S. State Department, told a news conference that Washington would maintain its position of rejecting any calls for an international agreement that binds countries to emissions reductions after 2012.

Watson said the United States would continue voluntary efforts to curb global warming via science, technology and bilateral agreements with other nations. He said greenhouse gas emissions had gone down nearly 1 percent in Bush's first three years in office.

"We need to pursue our international efforts in a spirit of cooperation — not coercion — with a true sense of partnership," Watson said.