President George Bush has today invited representatives of major industrialised and developing countries to a 'climate change summit' in September. Reacting to the news, Greenpeace's senior climate campaigner Robin Oakley said:
"It's a step forward that Bush no longer denies man-made global warming, but there has to be a concern that this is yet another attempt to derail the UN climate change negotiations set for December in Indonesia. Bush speaks about aspirational goals and voluntary targets. That's his vision and it's just not serious.
"Gordon Brown must not allow Bush to distract the UN from December's meeting, where the goal must be the kind of deep binding emissions cuts that Bush still strongly opposes. That's the only way we'll keep temperature rises below two degrees centigrade, beyond which we face dangerous climate change.
"If Gordon Brown goes to Washington he should tell the president that the UN is the only place to agree a successor to Kyoto, and that the UN process will go ahead with or without this lame duck White House. As it is, Brown could more productively use his time there meeting Bush's likely successors, all of whom are serious about fighting climate change."
At the 2007 G8 meeting in Germany, Bush agreed that his conference would contribute to the wider UN effort, but this is not credible while he still opposes binding international targets.
The president, who plans to address the conference on September 27 and 28, sent invitations to the European Union, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Japan, China, Canada, India, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and the United Nations.
ENDS
Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255
