Bush Wants to Stop Growth of Greenhouse Emissions By 2025

President George Bush today announced a new national goal to help tackle climate change: to stop the growth of US greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.

Bush, in a speech devoted to climate change, said power stations would need to reduce emission levels to well below previously projected targets.

But environmental campaigners complained it was all too little, too late: Bush has only nine months left in office. The other main criticism is that the goal is voluntary rather than mandatory: Bush calling for the development of new technologies to make it possible rather than the federal government threatening penalties for non-compliance.

Bush's 2025 goal follows a speech in 2002 in which he set targets only for 2012. He said today: "To reach our 2025 goal, we will need to more rapidly slow the growth of power sector greenhouse gas emissions so that they peak within 10 to 15 years, and decline thereafter.

"By doing so, we will reduce emission levels in the power sector well below where they were projected to be when we first announced our climate strategy in 2002. There are a number of ways to achieve these reductions, but all responsible approaches depend on accelerating the development and deployment of new technologies."

He also said that electric power plants could help slow greenhouse gas emissions within 15 years.

In spite of his new goal, any significant developments to tackle climate change are not expected until his successor takes office on January 20 next year.

During his first six years in office, Bush disputed the scientific basis of climate change and resisted pressure from Europe and elsewhere for action to curb emissions because he said it would damage the US economy.