President Bush this week called for a halt in the growth of greenhouse gases by 2025 and said there was a need to curb climate change. In a Rose Garden address, the president for the first time called for a specific target date to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but offered no details on how the reduction would be achieved. However, he rejected a Senate proposal that would impose mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2013, followed by increasing annual reductions. The remaining presidential candidates - Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton - all favor a mandatory, cap-and-trade system, much like that used in Europe where an overall limit on carbon emissions is set and companies that exceed their emission targets are allowed to buy credits from companies that stay below their carbon targets. "There is a wrong way and a right way to approach reducing greenhouse gas emissions," the president said. "Bad legislation would impose tremendous costs on our economy and American families without accomplishing the important climate change goals we share."

Bush called for a "comprehensive blend of market incentives and regulations" that would encourage clean and efficient energy technologies, contending, for example, that power plants should stabilize carbon dioxide pollution within 15 years and reduce them after that. He also cited existing measures, including a 40-percent increase in auto fuel economy, an increased biofuels mandate and enhanced efficiency standards. The president also said he was ready to sign off on a binding international agreement to reduce emissions if developing, large-economy countries such as China and India follow suit. The president's remarks come in advance of a meeting next week of the major world economies in Paris to set the framework for a world leaders' climate meeting that will be held in conjunction with the G-8 summit in July.