Here's the climate deal agreed to by G8: Bush will "seriously consider" the proposal

Europe and U.S. Reach Climate Deal

By MARK LANLDER and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: June 7, 2007

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 7 — The United States agreed today to “seriously consider” a European proposal to combat global warming by halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, breaking a trans-Atlantic deadlock at a meeting here of the world’s richest industrial nations.

The compromise, hammered out in tough negotiations between the United States and Germany, also endorses President Bush’s recent proposal to gather together the world’s largest emitting countries, including China and India, to set a series of national goals for reducing emissions.

The agreement does not include a mandatory 50 percent reduction in emissions, a key provision sought by Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, Mrs. Merkel, the host of the meeting, proclaimed it a “huge success.”

After days of discord between Europe and the United States, which had threatened to veto any reference to concrete reductions, the deal amounted to a face-saving compromise for Mrs. Merkel. It also reaffirmed that climate negotiations should take place under the auspices of the United Nations — something else sought by Mrs. Merkel.

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Environmental campaigners, however, played down the agreement, saying it does not fundamentally alter the Bush administration’s refusal to accept binding targets for reducing emissions.

“The president came to Germany with a simple message for the G8 leaders: not on my watch,” said Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, an Washington-based advocacy group.

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