A tiny step forward by the US
In his State of the Union address, President Bush vowed to cut consumption of petrol, but ruled out a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions:
“President George W. Bush made his strongest effort yet to slow the growth in greenhouse gases, using his State of the Union speech yesterday to pledge to cut US petrol use by 20 per cent over the next 10 years. But he failed to embrace calls for more aggressive mandatory cuts.
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He also called for the nation’s emergency oil reserve to double by 2027.
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The White House move on greenhouse gases reflects an acknowledgment of rising international and domestic criticism that he has not done enough to address US domestic demand. Democrats have pledged to make climate change a key legislative priority.
Mr Bush said the 20 per cent target would be met by raising fuel economy standards for vehicles. He also set a more aggressive target for switching to renewable fuels, such as ethanol, which will cut petrol use by 20 per cent. Even so, Mr Bush did not heed demands to engage in international discussions about a post-Kyoto accord after 2012 to control greenhouse gases, and ruled out introducing economy-wide mandatory caps on carbon dioxide.”