US climate proposal no competition to UN talks: Bush

WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush's call for global warming talks with a small group of key nations is not meant to sideline broader UN talks on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, said a senior US official.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, host of next week's Group of Eight summit, "was positive" about Bush's proposal when the two leaders talked by videoconference Friday, US national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.

Hadley acknowledged disputes among the eight rich nations on how to combat climate change and said Bush wanted to help bridge the gap.

"It is an effort to try and find consensus on the way ahead," Hadley told reporters. "There are still some differences."

Bush's initiative in effect rebuffed European Union calls, led by Merkel, for a G8 commitment to cut global greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

He proposed gathering about 15 countries that account for the bulk of greenhouse-gas emissions, including the US, for talks on a "long-term global goal" for cutting emissions.

Bush "made it very clear that this is not a competition to the UN process" and that "getting some consensus among those countries could... enable that UN process to succeed", Hadley said.

The US refused to join the Kyoto Protocol, which set mandatory emissions reductions for developed nations.

But Bush said Thursday the US was ready to join international talks on how to combat global warming after the pact expires in 2012.

"I believe Angela will be pleased with that because ... this was something she was working toward," Bush said in an interview with European media released Friday by the White House.