WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration is trying to postpone until 2001 an international convention to complete the treaty to curb global warming, a move that would give the next administration the final say on the treaty.
The administration's position is designed to give negotiators more time to develop the treaty's complicated compliance mechanisms, Frank E. Loy, undersecretary of state for global affairs, said. The treaty is intended to set up an international mechanism to curb man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other industrial pollutants.
The delay, if accepted, could also give the U.S. more clout in the final bargaining for the treaty, he explained. "In the run-up to a major conference like this one we will very likely need attention and intervention from the very top, including the White House." With the convention now on the calendar for late October 2000, just before the presidential election, that would be difficult, he said.
The change, announced in Bonn last week, could pass final say on the treaty, to Texas Gov. George W. Bush, currently the Republican presidential frontrunner. The Democrat's main contender, Vice President Al Gore, is one of the treaty's earliest and most enthusiastic supporters.
Gov. Bush's stance on the treaty is evolving. While he previously said he didn't believe science supported the need for a treaty, he appeared to change his stance last month, saying, "I believe there is global warming."
Fred Krupp, president of the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund, which has helped formulate some of the treaty's provisions on emissions trading, said he met with Gov. Bush in March. "I was certainly impressed by the fact that he was open-minded on the issue," said Mr. Krupp.
Industry groups opposed to the treaty are attempting to have a similar session with Gov. Bush, who has just hit the campaign trail. The outline for the treaty and targets for emission cuts were negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, but many of the details of what is considered the world's most complex and far-reaching treaty remain unsettled.
They include how much a nation might use emissions trading to avoid making sharp cuts in domestic emissions of manmade CO2 and other "greenhouse gases" created by burning oil, coal and gasoline. The U.S. wants unlimited trading in emissions credits while the European Union wants strict limits.
Nine nations have ratified the treaty. The U.S. has signed it, but hasn't presented it to the Senate where there doesn't appear to be the two-thirds majority needed to approve the pact.
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