Representatives from the world’s 17 largest greenhouse-gas emitters will gather tomorrow in the good ol’ U.S. of A. for a climate-change discussion. (And yes, the U.N. just had one of those — President Bush played hooky.) The group, which includes China, India, and Brazil, will be convened by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Bush will address them on Friday. Some E.U. nations will send junior ministers, as their senior officials have just, ahem, attended the U.N. meeting. Some see the summit as evidence that Bush is finally, finally, taking leadership on the climate issue; others fear that the group will latch onto fast-track voluntary measures, undermining the long-term, stricter standards likely to come out of U.N. negotiations. Either way, don’t expect immediate significant action: White House officials say the main goal is to set a plan for deciding how, and how much, to cut emissions, and expect that four or five more meetings will follow over the next year.
