Kerry urges Bush to OK greenhouse gas cuts at G8

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senator and former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Wednesday urged President George W. Bush to agree to firm greenhouse gas emission limits at this week's G8 meeting in Germany.

Kerry, speaking to the National Press Club, criticized the Bush administration for ignoring pleas from world leaders, U.S. lawmakers and the heads of major corporations to do more to curb climate change.

"It's not a 'privilege' for this administration to protect us from climate change -- it's an obligation," Kerry said. "And anyone in power who thinks otherwise ought to have the 'privilege' of being voted out of office or fired."

Since arriving at the Oval Office, Bush has refused to accept strict limits on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions spewed by U.S. industries, arguing it would hurt the American economy.

Instead, Bush has encouraged companies to voluntarily cut their emissions and he has set a goal for the United States to reduce the amount of emissions emitted for every dollar of economic output, commonly known as less "emissions intensity."

However, at the meeting of the eight major industrialized nations, summit host German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for a 50 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But White House officials at the summit said the United States was not ready to adopt that goal.

Kerry called on Bush to "do what's right" at the summit. "The president has a chance to remind the world of what America should always stand for by committing our country to concrete measures in the fight against climate change," he said.

Kerry downplayed Bush's call last week for an international dialogue on climate change. "This isn't the time for talk, it's the time for action," he said.

The senator also pointed out that the United States already engaged in such a dialogue over 10 years ago when it signed on to the United Nations' framework convention on climate change.

Kerry said Bush should personally represent the United States at an upcoming climate change meeting in Bali and negotiate directly with the leaders of industrialized and developing nations.

"That's what real leadership worthy of the American people would look like and we should demand nothing less," Kerry said.