JAPAN: German chancellor Merkel meets with Japanese business leaders to address global environment issues

German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Japanese business leaders and calls on the United States to take the lead in the fight against global warming. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a visit to Japan, has thrown down the gauntlet to America as countries look for a united front on global warming. She met with Japanese business leaders on Thursday (August 30) to discuss economic and trade issues. But the question of climate change and the impact on the environment were also addressed. Merkel called on Washington to take the lead in the fight against global warming. "I think America will cooperate, but America also has to cooperate" she said. And she warned that if a regime couldn't be found that was accepted by the United States, then China and India "will never agree to reduction targets". Merkel emphasized the need for positive action as well as words and sentiment when dealing with environmental issues and reductions in greenhouse gases. "I don't believe that it's enough to just agree that everyone will do their best. I don't believe that would yield an impressive result," she said. Before Japan, Merkel visited China where she pressed Beijing on climate change four months before world environment ministers meet in Bali to try to launch new talks to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. The Kyoto Protocol obliges 35 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but developing nations including China have no targets. China is set to become the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases by 2008, moving ahead of the United States.

ITN Source | August 30, 2007

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