Press Briefing: US Position on Climate Change for Bali Conference

"...the President would like to see a mandatory replacement of 20 percent of our gasoline use with alternative fuels and fuel efficiency."

James L. Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs

from United States Department of State transcript of press briefing
Foreign Press Center Briefing
Washington, DC
December 6, 2007

"Clearly countries such as Indonesia and Brazil, their main focus is going to be forestry, the issue of deforestation. And that's what they should be focused on. Countries like China and America should be focused very solidly on trying to come up with low carbon coal, to produce power from coal with low carbon emissions. And how to deal with our roadway transportation-related issues. China's going to have as many cars as America by 2020, it's been estimated. It's a huge challenge for both of us. In Europe, too. A lot of vehicles on the road in Europe. So this is where you're going to see some new configurations of countries focused on specific areas of priority and that's where we need common action.

"So we expect a mix. We can be much more flexible, we can be much more adaptable, we must be complete in our effort because the facts are fairly straightforward. In order to make a sizeable reduction in greenhouse gases it requires action by all of the major emerging economies. These actions may be different, but action is necessary. Otherwise it will not affect temperature trajectory over the long term."

Click here for a transcript of the entire press briefing convened in advance of the UN Climate Change Summit in Bali