Concern over Bush's climate change stance

The EU has expressed concern over President Bush's attitude to combating climate change. The EU Environment Commissioner, Ms Margot Wallstrom, said she was concerned that Mr Bush's approach to environmental issues could make it more difficult to reach an international agreement on reducing the emissions that many scientists believe to be the cause of global warming.

"I am a bit worried, I have to say, because of some of the statements I have seen and from what I know from reading about the Bush position on this," she said. In a report this week, UN scientists said that rises in sea level due to the melting of polar ice caps would force tens of millions of people in low-lying areas to flee their homes.

The report pointed to mounting evidence that activities like burning fossil fuels were responsible for a projected global temperature increase of up to six degrees over the next century.

At a UN conference in Kyoto in 1997, countries accepted individual targets to begin cutting their emissions of greenhouse gas emissions by 2010. The deal has not yet been ratified and an attempt to agree a plan to enforce it failed last year due to differences between the EU and the US.

Although Mr Bush has yet to state his position on the issue, many Republican Party Congressmen oppose an international agreement on the grounds that it could damage growth.

Ms Wallstrom said she remained optimistic that the new US administration would agree to restart talks on global warming in the coming months.