Climate change: Big business writes agenda for Bush

GEORGE BUSH still hasn't accepted that global warming exists, but he accepts that scientists say it exists. Not a big step forward by the head of the country with the worst record on carbon emissions of the world's leading economies.

Alison Hill

The USA is the only G8 country not to have signed up to the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Industry in the USA runs with comparatively low energy efficiency and its carbon emissions per head are the highest in the G8, and projected to go higher.

Bush won't sign up to Kyoto for fear of upsetting his big-business backers. He's keener on backing measures like renewable energy sources and carbon sequestration - a means of extracting CO2 from power station emissions. In private hands these technologies can also turn out to be nice little earners for the big corporations.

But it's no good doing deals on aid and debt reduction for Africa and other developing areas if you don't do anything about global warming. A group of aid and environmental agencies have produced a report: Africa - Up In Smoke, which explains how African poverty and climate change are inseparably linked. Drought, hunger and lack of clean water will all get worse with climate change.

Before the G8 Bush declared: "I go to the G8 with an agenda that I think is best for our country". What he meant was: "best for our country's business." A philosophy which is killing and impoverishing people throughout the world.

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G8:

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Carbon:

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Africa:

The 'Kony 2012' phenomena

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South Africa: Massive metal workers' strike