President Bush's Major Economies climate change summit on 26-27th September made no progress towards achieving an international agreement on cutting emissions and distracted from ongoing UN talks.
The meeting attended by the UN and senior representatives of seventeen countries, gave no clear support for negotiations beginning at the UN talks in Bali this year. Nor did it give any support on the need for mandatory emissions targets which must be part of any post-2012 deal. The meeting also failed to achieve any progress towards agreeing a long-term goal for reducing emissions.
The Major Economies summit was a missed opportunity for President Bush to play a key role in driving forward progress on climate change.
For a more detailed response to the meeting click here.