US denies new energy plan fuels global warming
Date: 23-May-01
Country: SWEDEN
Author: Eva Sohlman
"From an environmental point of view it in fact is a very good document," the director at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Christine Todd Whitman, told Reuters.
When asked if the plan unveiled by President George W. Bush on Friday would raise emissions of greenhouse gases and so contribute to global warming, she replied: "Oh, not at all, not at all."
The head of the U.N. forum on climate change, Jan Pronk, has denounced the plan as "a disastrous development" and said it would contribute to push up world temperatures.
And Kjell Larsson, the environment minister of Sweden which holds the rotating EU presidency, also hit out at the plan at a U.N. conference in Stockholm yesterday which agreed to outlaw toxic chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
He said the U.S. scheme made it clear that Washington would not be able to work with the international community on the 1997 Kyoto pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming. President George W. Bush abandoned the Kyoto deal in March.
"I'm very disappointed that we can't continue to work globally with the Kyoto process," Larsson told a news conference.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
But Whitman said half of the recommendations of the policy were directed at renewable energy sources or energy conservation. The plan includes measures to bolster nuclear power and allocates $10 billion to conservation.
Critics say it is lop-sided in boosting production.
The burning of fossil fuels by industry and cars produce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) which is blamed for trapping heat in the atmosphere, leading to global warming and threatening disastrous weather changes.
Whitman said new technology, increased use of renewable energy and voluntary efforts to raise energy efficiency would help the United States - the world's largest polluter of CO2 - to control its greenhouse emissions.
Another sign that the United States was increasing its energy efficiency was that greenhouse emissions were not rising as fast as economic growth, she said.
Americans use about three times more energy per capita than EU citizens.
The agency would also launch a campaign this year to boost energy awareness and efficiency further, she said.
"While we have seen dramatic economic growth the increase in emissions have not grown at the same level at all," she said.
Whitman, who is also attending the POPs conference, said the United States aimed to ratify the convention to ban 12 toxic pollutants dubbed "the dirty dozen" before the end of the year.
"I would hope we'd be able to do it way before that...the president has indicated his support," she said.
Whitman also said she would present recommendations for a new climate policy by the end of June to Bush but could not say when the plan will be published.
Washington in March ditched the Kyoto protocol which calls on industrialised countries to cut their emissions of CO2 and other climate gases. It blamed high costs and said it was unfair that developing countries were not included.
Whitman said the administration aimed to publish its alternative climate plan in June and consult with its allies ahead of global climate talks in mid-July in Bonn, Germany.
"We will be talking to umbrella group allies prior to that to engage them in the discussion to see how we move forward," Whitman said in response to fears that Washington may invite other countries to follow its new plan and abandon Kyoto.
Umbrella group countries and U.S. allies in environmental policy are Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.