Britain Pushes Bush to Set Climate Goal

The British environmental secretary will visit Washington in an effort to convince President Bush to set specific goals for carbon reduction at this week's G8 summit. David Miliband plans to encourage the US to agree to an emissions target by 2050 and to acknowledge the principle of carbon trading as the best market-based way of reducing emissions.

Miliband praised Bush's speech last week, in which the president supported an international target, but the secretary tells the Guardian the issue can't wait until 2008. He plans to invoke the American role fight against fascism in a speech today. Meanwhile, Bush is already in Europe preparing for the summit, which begins tomorrow. (More global warming stories.)