Nations must fight climate change like terrorism, Rice says

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday told delegates to a global climate change conference that countries around the world must work together to combat climate change, much as they cooperate against terror and the spread of disease.

"No one nation, no matter how much power or political will it possesses, can succeed alone," she said. "We all need partners, and we all need to work in concert."

Rice said the United States takes climate change seriously, "for we are both a major economy and a major emitter."

Other nations have been critical of the Bush administration's policy on climate change after the United States withdrew from the 1997 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as the Kyoto Protocol. More than 150 countries signed the Kyoto agreement, which mandates limits on emissions.

At a Group of Eight conference in June, President Bush pushed for a new framework on global gas emissions to counter the effects of global warming.

Bush said he believes every nation should set its own goals. The president expressed concern that setting strict targets would damage the U.S. economy. Instead, he said, industries should enact voluntary measures.

In her address Thursday to the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change, Rice said an integrated response, including "environmental stewardship, economic growth, energy supply and security and development and the development and deployment of new clean energy technology" is the key to moving forward on the issue.

Representatives of 16 countries, the United Nations and the European Union are attending the two-day conference. The Bush administration has billed it as an initiative to develop a common approach to combat global warming following the collapse of the Kyoto Protocol.

Participants represent major producers of greenhouse gases and rapidly developing economies such as India, Brazil and China.

Rice listed three points she said she hopes delegates will focus on during the conference:

An agreement on a long-term goal for greenhouse gas reduction.

The establishment of midterm national targets and programs tailored to each country's economic and energy needs to reach the broader goal.

The encouragement of work with private industry to develop new energy technology that doesn't risk but accelerates economic growth.

"If we stay on our present path, we face an unacceptable choice: Either we sacrifice global economic growth ... or we sacrifice the health of our planet to continue with fossil fuel growth," Rice warned. "This is a choice we must refuse to make. Instead, we must cut the Gordian knot of fossil fuels, carbon emissions and economic activity. This current system is no longer sustainable."

However, environmentalists criticized the administration's reliance on voluntary measures -- the same insistence that led Bush to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol.

"While it was encouraging to hear from Secretary Rice that the U.S. is taking this issue seriously, the voluntary approach promoted by the White House falls short of the actions that must be taken immediately to halt climate change," Hans Verolme, director of World Wildlife Fund's Global Climate Change Program, said in a written statement.

"If the U.S. is truly serious about stopping climate change -- and we hope they are -- President Bush should use this opportunity to propose meaningful emission cuts and binding targets" ahead of a U.N. climate summit set for December, he said.

More than 150 countries signed the Kyoto agreement, which mandates limits on emissions but exempts developing countries.

With the United States and heavy polluters among developing economies such as China out of the accord, the Kyoto talks never gained traction as a global solution to climate change.

About 70 demonstrators from Greenpeace and other environmental groups protested outside the State Department during the conference, The Associated Press reported. Dozens were arrested for refusing to leave, according to the AP.

"I'm here to protest the fact that we are having a climate conference when we should have been signing the Kyoto agreement," Lauren Siegel from New York told the AP while being loaded into a police van with other protesters. "This is a diversion," she said, referring to the conference.

Participating in this week's conference are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, along with representatives from the European Union and the United Nations. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

All About Condoleezza Rice • Global Climate Change