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The Silver Lining of President Bush's Climate Proposal

June 4, 2007

The best way to describe President Bush’s climate negotiations proposal is that he has finally suited up for the global climate game but is not yet willing to put the ball into play.

The president’s proposal has significant flaws, but it’s not quite as bad as enviros have made it out to be. OK, Bush’s announcement did not carry the inspiring conviction of, say, Ronald Reagan telling Mr. Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."

But consider this: the president’s willingness to entertain global negotiations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions further isolates the hell-no crowd, which has sowed polarization and stood in the way of meaningful climate action by turning scientific illiteracy into a political art form.

The president’s proposal was announced in advance of this week’s G8 + 5 get-together in Germany. It calls for the U.S. and up to 14 other nations accounting for 85 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions to talk about setting long-term goals for emissions reductions and come to terms by the end of 2008, weeks before Bush hands over the White House keys to No. 44.

There is nothing in the proposal about binding emissions caps, the essential prerequisite for concentrating minds and driving the technology investments that will shrink humanity’s carbon footprint.

At the same time, however, the president has gingerly opened the door to working cooperatively with other nations on emissions reductions. That can only lead to increased pressure, domestically and from America’s allies, for the U.S. to adopt a strong policy that includes hard targets, real deadlines, and tradable allowances.

Once the U.S. puts that ball into play, it will have greater leverage to press other nations to carry their fair share of the emissions reduction load.

None too soon. The National Academy of Sciences released a study last month showing that greenhouse gas emissions in this decade rose three times faster than they did during the 1990s.

We have a tiger by the tail, and time is short for wrestling it to the ground.