Japan's environment minister yesterday criticised George W. Bush's plan to minimise greenhouse emissions, saying the US president's ambitions "fell far short" of expectations. Reacting to Mr Bush's pledge to halt the growth of US carbon emissions by 2025, Ichiro Kamoshita said: "Truthfully, I want the US to tackle the issue of global warming more proactively." Japan, which hosts the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido in July, wants to forge a compromise between the US and Europe on the one hand and big developing countries, particularly China and India, on the other.

Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita on Friday criticized U.S. President George W. Bush's recently unveiled plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, saying it fell "far short" of expectations. "Frankly, I want the United States to address the issue of global warming in a more proactive fashion," the minister said at a news conference. Kamoshita made no mention of when Japan will announce its own proposal. The minister said he "welcomes" Washington's move to set a specific date by which to lower its emissions, but stressed that the U.S. should "aim even higher."

Greenhouse gases have been the big focus of most companies' environmental efforts for several years, with pollution a close second. But another equally pressing environmental issue has received much less attention: water. For most companies in the developed world, water is not much of a problem. Water bills are generally a tiny part of overheads, and unless there is a drought or flood, companies can count on it flowing from the tap.

US President George W Bush's plan to halt a rise in US greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 could undermine, rather than support, efforts to combat climate change, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said. "Gabriel criticises Bush's Neanderthal speech" was the title of a news release from the Environment Ministry on Thursday. "Without binding limits and reduction targets for industrial countries, climate change will not be stopped," said Sigmar Gabriel, adding the United States and Europe had to lead the way in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Commission urged US President George W Bush on Thursday to be more ambitious in tackling climate change while welcoming his acceptance that the United States would need to curb greenhouse gas emissions. A spokesman for the European Union executive said Bush's plan to halt the growth of US greenhouse emissions by 2025, announced on Wednesday, fell far short of the action needed by developed countries to save the planet from potentially catastrophic global warming.

With carbon markets worth more than

A US plan to cap greenhouse gases by 2025 was dismissed as too little, too late by some delegates at 17-nation climate talks in Paris on Thursday while others welcomed it as a first firm US emissions ceiling. On Wednesday, US President George W Bush unveiled a plan to halt the growth of US emissions by 2025, toughening a previous goal of braking the growth of emissions by 2012. The United States and China are the top emitters.

Following a one-day meeting in Tokyo, the business federation chiefs issued a joint statement urging the G8 nations to come up with measures that will encourage developing countries to participate in the framework to succeed Kyoto. "We hope there will be a forward-looking agreement on such points," said Fujio Mitarai, chief of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and chairman and CEO of Canon Inc. Mitarai also said the business chiefs briefly discussed the sectoral approach Japan proposed that has so far only received mixed reactions.

Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita on Friday criticized the greenhouse gas-emissions cut plan just unveiled by U.S. President George W Bush, saying,

The list of businesses going "green" lengthens by the day. Household names such as Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and L'Orealboast programmes to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, use natural resources more efficiently, recycle more and clear up pollution. These initiatives have gained approval from consumers and praise from environmental groups, but what will happen if the economy slows? Will companies continue to put efforts into improving their environmental credentials? Or will these green buds wither in the chill wind blowing through the markets?