Paris Climate Talks End With Eyes Still on U.S.

The latest meeting of the world's biggest polluters, convened in Paris by President Bush in version of international global warming talks, ended with some substantial agreements, according to Reuters.

"The U.S.-led meeting of 17 nations accounting for 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, ended with common ground on sharing clean technologies, financing and possible sectoral emissions goals for industries such as steel or cement," Reuters reported.

But the overall goal remained elusive. While the developed world, other than the U.S., supports the goal of halving carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, the developing world objects. That leaves all eyes on the U.S. to determine the way forward. With Bush leaving office in a few months (and having jugt pronounced a much more moderate goal of stopping the increase of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025), that means it will fall on the next president to set the agenda. Both Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have stated a goal of reducing U.S. emissions by 80% by 2050; Republican John McCain has not set such a goal, but he has authored bills in the Senate that would have cut emissions by about 60% in that time period.

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