Britain:British prime minister Tony Blair believes he is close to persuading US president George W Bush to accept an ambitious plan to bring the world's greatest polluters into international partnership to fight climate change for the first time.
The plan would involve setting up a network of carbon trading schemes and is one of five main proposals drawn up by the Germans and British ahead of the G8 summit next month.
The concept of an international agreement involving the G8 industrialised nations, and some of the poorest but most polluting countries, such as India and China, was first mooted by Mr Blair at the G8 summit in Gleneagles in 2005. British officials believe they now are close to securing an outline agreement in time for the June summit in the German resort of Heiligendamm.
Mr Blair wants an agreement before Mr Bush leaves the White House. They are due to hold talks tomorrow at the White House during the prime minister's last official visit to Washington.
Although some environmental groups believe Mr Blair is wasting his time trying to persuade Mr Bush, the president is "changing his thinking" on the issue, according to Mr Blair's special envoy on climate change, Elliott Morley. Apart from the trading schemes, other elements being pressed by the British in the G8 declaration are:
An agreement to stabilise the world temperature rise above pre-industrial levels at no higher than two degrees Celsius, or cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050;
An agreement to give companies and countries new technology "rewards" if they stop cutting down forests;
A new programme of energy efficiency, modelled on the EU scheme to cut CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, using simple techniques such as energy-efficient lightbulbs and green cities;
A commitment to help poor African states adapt to the change.
Under the new trading plans, China and India would not face binding targets. Instead, they would be allowed to continue their economic growth in exchange for a commitment to establish national cap and trade schemes to cover some of their most heavily polluting industrial sectors such as metals processing and cement manufacturing.
Companies in these sectors would be granted permits to emit CO2 and other gases, in the hope that they would rather reduce pollution than pay for permits.
Further cap and trade schemes - this time with binding targets and penalties for non-compliance - would be set up to cover carbon pollution in developed countries, including the US and Australia, which have refused to sign up to Kyoto. These could be along national, regional or sectorial lines, officials said, with carbon credits eventually traded between schemes using exchange rates similar to currency conversions, with the goal of placing a global price tag on pollution.
A London government source warned that the US position was "fluid". The best realistic hope at Heiligendamm is an agreement on the five principles, with details of a treaty to succeed Kyoto worked out as part of UN negotiations in Bali in December, the source said.