Tough 2020 climate goals unachievable: U.S.

By Gerard Wynn

BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The United States will tell a July meeting of the Group of Eight rich nations that it cannot meet big cuts in emissions of planet-warming gases by 2020, its chief climate negotiator Harlan Watson said.

"It's frankly not do-able for us," he told Reuters on Tuesday, referring to a goal for rich countries to curb greenhouse gases by 25-40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

A draft summit declaration, dated May 5 and seen by Reuters, showed Washington is blocking efforts to get the summit to agree targets for cutting carbon emissions, insisting that responsibility be shared by big emerging economies.

The European Union says it will cut emissions by 30 percent if other rich countries do and supports a goal of 25-40 percent for all industrialized nations.

But the candidates running to replace U.S. President George W. Bush, and who all support action to stem climate change, were only talking about returning to 1990 or 2000 U.S. emissions levels by 2020, Watson said.

"And I think most analysis of whether we could do that (say) it would be a heavy lift for the United States given our current infrastructure."

U.S. power production is about 50 percent reliant on high carbon-emitting coal, Watson added.

Watson was speaking on the sidelines of U.N.-led climate talks in Germany. He held out hope for agreement in the July G8 meeting on a global goal to halve emissions by 2050.