Amerikanske forhandlere i klimamøtet på Bali står steilt på at USA ikke vil godta obligatoriske kutt i drivhusgasser. Men en Senatskomite vedtok samtidig at USA skal redusere drivhusgasser med 70 % innen 2050. Forslaget oversendes Senatet i plenum. De er først lovforslag om pålagte kutt siden miljøkrisen ble tema.

USA står i økende grad isolert i sin motstand mot obligatoriske kutt etter at Australia bestemte seg for å ratifisere Kyoto.

Washington’s isolation in Bali has increased following Australia’s announcement Monday that it has reversed its opposition to the Kyoto pact and started the ratification process — winning applause at the conference’s opening session. That left the U.S. as the only industrialized nation to oppose the agreement.

The U.S. Senate action cheered environmentalists and others in Bali clamoring for dramatic action to stop global warming. U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer led off his daily briefing Thursday by hailing the «encouraging sign» from the United States.

«This is a very welcome development,» Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists said of the Senate measure. «It shows the increasing isolation of the Bush administration in terms of U.S. policy on this issue.»

David Waskow, of the Oxfam humanitarian agency, said the Senate legislation was a positive signal to developing nations and others in Bali that America may be ready to assume a more active role in battling climate change.

Det er vanskelig å fatte at USA kunne reise til Bali og late som om verden ikke er forandret siden Kyoto. Lovforslaget i Senatet sier sitt om at USA er i ferd med å endre oppfatning og er mer på linje med resten av verden. Likevel fastholder USAs forhandlingsleder at de står fast på sitt nei til pålagte kutt:
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U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson, however, said that would not impact Washington’s position at the international gathering in Bali.

«In our process, a vote for movement of a bill out of committee does not ensure its ultimate passage,» he told reporters. «I don’t know the details, but we will not alter our posture here.»

It was the first bill calling for mandatory U.S. limit on greenhouse gases to be taken up in Congress since global warming emerged as an environmental issue more than two decades ago.

US under pressure at climate conference