U.S. Increasingly Alone on Global Warming Policy

While President Bush advocates for voluntary technology-driven solutions to global warming pollution, he's meeting increasing resistance from Europe and other world players who back a United Nations push to set hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions. After the United Nations convened a meeting of world leaders Monday -- the largest ever to focus on the climate -- Bush followed with his own convention of the world's top polluters.

Skeptics fear Bush aims to derail the U.N. talks by taking essential players out of the game. Several reports today quoted representatives at Bush's conference who said that isn't the case. The U.S. voluntary strategy is meeting with resistance from not only Europe, but China, which is urging the United States to lead via the United Nations.

The meeting, according to the Wall Street Journal, is focusing on ways to develop global funds to invest in clean energy technology in developing nations, and to develop strategies so private investors can be assured their money won't go into a black hole. Those initiatives can be vitally important, so even if the Bush strategy ultimately gives way to the U.N. strategy, there could be useful strategies it can contribute.

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