欧盟和布什政府关注全球变暖问题.doc

欧盟和布什政府关注全球变暖问题 By ANDREW PURVIS/BERLIN 安徽省人事厅人才屮心吴平编译 编者按：近年来，地球升温、冰川融化、海平面上升己经成为不可否 认的事实。世界对全球变暖的关注也到了一个前所未有的高度。本期特别 策划，关注欧盟和布什政府对这一问题的解决方案。 When it comes to addressing climate change, the U. S. and Europe are like two cars racing toward each other in a game of chicken, according to Hans Joachim Schnellhuber, an adviser on climate issues to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. That may be overstating the case. But there’ s little chance that this week s G8 summit at the German seaside resort of Hciligcndamm will resolve fundamental differences between the Bush Administr-ation and E. IL countries led by Germany over how to combat global warming. The targets require taking steps to ensure that average temperatures on the planet increase by no more than 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, and to slash greenhouse gas emissions to 50% of the 1990 level before 2050. But when the German draft was circulated two weeks ago in Washington, U. S. negotiators declared, in a document leaked shortly afterwards, that the German draft “crossed multiple ‘red lines’ ’’ and that “there is only so far we can go, given our fundamental opposition to the German position. ’’ Then, on May 31，President George W. Bush announced his own climate change initiative, which calls on the leaders of the 15 leading producers of the heat-trapping gases to develop long-term voluntary emission-reduction goals. The proposal, notably short on specifics, raised concern in Europe that Bush was trying to make an end-run around the existing United Nations process for addressing climate change, which includes the Kyoto agreement. The German environment minister warned of a possible “Trojan horse” designed to sidestep an agreement in Heiligendamm and “torpedo the international climate protection process. ’’ Underlying the increasingly testy exchange are fundamental differences over how the climate crisis is to be addressed. The biggest worry in Europe is that the Bush Administration approach of stressing