European Union representatives were in Washington today trying to convince US officials not to give up on the Kyoto protocol on climate change.
Ms Margot Wallstrom, the EU's environment commissioner, Swedish Environment Minister Mr Kjell Larson and a representative of Belgium, the next country to hold the rotating EU presidency, met with Environmental Protection Agency head Ms Christine Todd Whitman and were scheduled also to visit the State Department and the White House.
"The Kyoto protocol will be at the center of the discussions, of course, to convince the Americans not to withdraw from the Kyoto protocol," said Ms Nina Erfman, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Embassy in Washington.
Mr Bush said last week he had decided to ditch the Kyoto treaty reached in 1997 because it exempted developing states from emissions cuts and was not in the economic interests of the United States.
Days earlier, Mr Bush had scrapped a campaign vow to seek mandatory cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from US power plants, saying that scientific evidence linking the pollution to global warming was incomplete.
The Kyoto Protocol required 38 rich industrialized countries to cut "greenhouse gases" - mainly the carbon by-product of burning oil, gas and coal - an average of 5.2 per cent by 2010 compared with 1990 levels.
Mr Bush contends the UN treaty is unfair to the United States because it does not commit big developing countries such as China and India to any carbon dioxide reduction.
The decision, which went back on a campaign promise made by Mr Bush, has brought shocked reactions from all over the world, including from staunch US allies.
No major industrialized nation has ratified the accord, but the 15 EU states are eager to keep it alive.
EU Commission President Romano Prodi sharply criticized Mr Bush on Saturday for pulling out of the treaty, saying he should think of the planet's needs and not only those of US industry.
AFP