Any deal at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Scotland is unlikely to satisfy environmentalists who want all countries to sign up to binding targets on the carbon emissions that scientists say are causing the world to heat up.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has put the issues of climate change and African poverty at the top of the summit agenda, said the idea was to move beyond the binding Kyoto protocol, which the United States has refused to accept.
"There is no point going back over the Kyoto debate … that’s not what it’s about," Blair said after talks with US President George W. Bush at the luxury Gleneagles hotel where the summit is being held.
"What it is about is seeing whether it will be possible in the future to bring people back into consensus together, not just America and Europe and Japan but also … the emerging economies like China, like India," he said.
"Can we do that? I don’t know, but it’s important that we at least begin a process of dialogue that allows us to make progress on it."
The US has refused to accept any targets which could damage the its economy and says there is no point in agreements which do not include major developing economies such as China and India, whose leaders are attending the summit as guests.
Bush urged the world to focus instead on developing new clean technologies.
"Now is the time to get beyond the Kyoto period (which ends in 2012) and develop a strategy forward that is inclusive not just of the United States but also of developing nations," he said after his meeting with Blair.
"This is an opportunity for those of us who have the capacity to spend research dollars to share information."
GREEN GROUPS ANGRY
Environmental group Greenpeace denounced Blair’s approach.
"In fact, Blair is destroying Kyoto and selling out the EU position, which demands binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions," Greenpeace director Stephen Tindale said.
"This is a fast lane to climate chaos. We can only hope other G8 leaders have the courage to say ‘no’."
The world economy was also due to feature prominently in Thursday’s talks at the plush golf resort, with record oil prices the main concern.
Oil prices hit record levels of over $62 a barrel Wednesday, despite expectations that the leaders would make an official appeal for more stable prices and more freedom for oil companies to invest in oil-rich countr?es.
There were no plans to include any comment on currencies in the economic communique.
G8 leaders were also due to discuss foreign policy issues, particularly the Middle East, although they were not expected to make any major announcements.
Following five days of pop concerts, demonstrations and sporadic violent protests on Scotland’s streets that focused public attention in Britain on the G8 as never before, no anti-G8 protests were planned on Thursday.
But police surrounded a protest campsite in the town of Stirling, 32 km (20 miles) south of Gleneagles, to protect public safety. They were allowing protesters to come and go as long as they submitted to body searches.