New York, Mar 03: The Bush administration
estimates that US gas emissions that contribute to global
warming will grow nearly as fast through the next decade as
they did in the previous decade, according to a draft of a
report being compiled for the United Nations.
The document, the 'United States Climate Action
Report', emphasizes that the projections show progress toward
a goal Bush laid out in a 2002 speech: that emissions of
Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases grow at a slower
rate than the economy, The New York Times reported.
Since that speech, he has repeated his commitment to
lessening "greenhouse gas intensity" without imposing formal
limits on the gases.
The paper quoted Kristen A. Hellmer, a spokeswoman for
the White House on environmental matters as saying that the
report will show that the "President's portfolio of actions
addressing climate change and his unparalleled financial
commitments are working.
But the paper said when shown the report, an
assortment of experts on climate trends and policy described
the projected emissions as unacceptable given the rising
evidence of risks from unabated global warming.
"As Governor of Texas and as a candidate, the
President supported mandatory limits on Carbon Dioxide
emissions," said David W. Conover, who directed the
administration's climate change technology programme until
February 2006 and is now counsel to the National Commission
on Energy Policy, a non-partisan research group that supports
limits on gases.
When Bush announced his voluntary greenhouse-gas
intensity reduction goal in 2002, he said it would be
re-evaluated in light of scientific developments. The science
now clearly calls for a mandatory programme that establishes a
price for greenhouse-gas emissions, experts said.
According to the new report, the administration's
climate policy will result in emissions growing 11 per cent in
2012 from 2002. In the previous decade, emissions grew at a
rate of 11.6 per cent, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency.
The report, the paper said, also contains sections
describing growing risks to water supplies, coasts and
ecosystems around the United States from the anticipated
temperature and precipitation changes driven by the
atmospheric buildup of Carbon Dioxide and other heat-trapping
greenhouse gases.
Drafts of the report were provided to The Times by a
government employee.
Hellmer defended Bush's climate policy, saying the
President was committed to actions, like moderating gasoline
use and researching alternative energy, that limited climate
risks while also increasing the country's energy and national
security.
She said Bush was satisfied with voluntary measures to
slow emissions.
Bureau Report