US:Most of the world's biggest polluters met in Washington yesterday for two days of talks about climate change hosted by the US, the government many environmental activists blame for the global community's failure to take more effective action.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told representatives from 17 countries responsible for 80 per cent of the world's pollution that they must find a new consensus to confront climate change.
"We all represent different interests and opinions," she said, "but ultimately we need to answer just one fundamental question: what kind of world do we wish to inhabit and what kind of world do we intend to pass on to future generations?"
The US, China and India oppose mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and Dr Rice said yesterday that each country should move towards agreed goals in its own way. "Every country will make its own decisions, reflecting its own needs and its own interests, its own sources of energy and its own domestic environment. Though united by common goals and collective responsibilities, all nations should tackle global climate change in the ways they deem best," she said.