U.S. gives an inch on emissions

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany — The United States agreed Thursday to "seriously consider" a European plan to combat global warming by cutting in half greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, averting a trans-Atlantic deadlock at a meeting here of the world's richest industrial nations.

The compromise, worked out in tough negotiations between the United States and Germany, also endorses President Bush's recent proposal to bring together the world's largest emitting countries, including China and India, to set their own national goals for reducing emissions.

The agreement reached Thursday does not include a mandatory 50 percent reduction in global emissions by 2050, a key provision sought by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, nor does it commit the United States or Russia to specific reductions.

Nevertheless, Merkel, the host of the Group of 8 meeting, proclaimed it a major victory. She had placed climate change at the top of the agenda for the gathering, and in recent days she pressured Bush to relax his opposition to mandatory cuts in emissions, though he ultimately did not. "If you think of where we were a few weeks ago, and where we have reached today, this is a big success," a visibly relieved Merkel told reporters in this Baltic Sea resort.

The United States had threatened before the meeting to reject large parts of the German proposal, which reaffirmed the role of the United Nations as the primary forum for negotiating climate agreements.

Now, though, the Bush administration has agreed for the first time to take part in negotiations to develop a new global agreement on climate policy by 2009. Such a pact could form the basis of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 and was never ratified by the United States.

"One of the features I think we all agreed to is, there needs to be a long-term global goal to substantially reduce emissions," Stephen J. Hadley, the White House national security adviser, told reporters. "There are obviously a number of ideas as to how that should be done."

Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, who has long prodded Bush to embrace a stricter climate policy, said the agreement represented "a very substantial coming together" of the world's leaders. His comments came after he met one-on-one with Bush for the last time as prime minister.

Environmental groups were more mixed in their reaction, with several noting that the agreement did not alter the Bush administration's refusal to accept binding targets for emissions reductions.