As suspected, President George W. Bush will spell out a strategy for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions in a speech today. According to a White House official, “He’ll set a national economy-wide goal of stopping the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025,” but will decline to outline a specific plan. Bush will reportedly also say that he wants to put the brakes on greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants within 10 to 15 years, but will voice opposition to abandoning nuclear or coal power. He also reportedly opposes meeting his new target by raising taxes or imposing trade barriers, and instead will repeat that he wants to remove trade barriers for clean-energy technologies. Bush will express his distaste for any of the climate-change-fighting legislation currently before Congress and will urge Congressfolk to incorporate his vague strategy into a brand new bill. Tomorrow, at a Paris meeting of the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitters, the U.S. will be able to say that it’s doing saying something about climate change.
