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The article reports on the withholding of its endorsement on climate pact in G-7 meeting by U.S. Topics discussed include environmental policy of U.S., political alliance, green house gas emission policy, climatology law and legislation, bilateral trade agreement, foreign policy of U.S. and global climate change policy.

The article discusses international negotiations to take place in Paris, France regarding emissions reduction and climate change. According to the author, the changes proposed by negotiators will not meet their own stated goal of limiting global warming to a safe level. Details on a plan recommended by expert scientists to set a cap on total greenhouse gases, which the negotiators have declined to follow, are presented. The role of global inequalities in climate change mitigation is also discussed.

California has a long and productive history as a leader in environmental policy, requiring cleaner cars and power plants and more energy-efficient appliances. The state continued to break new ground last week when it unveiled the country's first comprehensive, statewide cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. The announcement was a rare bright spot at time when Republicans in Washington, and their corporate backers, have turned the words ''cap and trade'' into an epithet. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal Clean Air Act plainly empowered the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases from cars and trucks -- and, by inference, other sources like power plants. There was great hope at the time that the decision would force President Bush to confront the issue of climate change, which he had largely ignored for six years. Instead, it became the catalyst for a campaign of scientific obfuscation, political flimflam and simple dereliction of duty -- which United States Senator Barbara Boxer aptly described as a ''master plan'' -- to ensure that the administration did as little as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]