Laggard at the G-8

THE RACE to reduce carbon emissions before climate change irremediably alters life on earth will hold center stage at the summit of industrial nations this week in the German resort of Heiligendamm. The central drama on the Group of Eight stage promises to be President Bush's refusal to include the United States in a consensus on setting targets and timetables for significant reductions in greenhouse gases and serious efforts to conserve energy.

In a transparent attempt to pre empt criticism of his stance against European calls for a cap on carbon emissions and a global carbon-trading program, Bush offered a climate change initiative of his own in a speech Thursday . His acknowledgment of a need to address "the challenge of global climate change" marked a welcome evolution in his attitude toward the existence of that threat. But his insistence on countering it primarily with efforts to "harness the power of technology" and reduce tariffs on new technologies amounts to a ploy to avoid an international emissions cap.

There is a tragic stubbornness in Bush's stance on climate change. Just as his 2001 rejection of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol initiated a wave of resentment against the United States, his resistance to the cap on carbon emissions now proposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel is sure to revive doubts about America among its best friends.

Bush ought to recognize that climate change endangers US national security and that, far from threatening the US economy, a turn to conservation and renewable energy can create new opportunities for growth.

Bush originally opposed Kyoto because China and India were not included, and their reluctance to accept new binding commitments after Kyoto runs out in 2012 remains a problem. But it will be easier for those two rising powers to demur if Bush scorns Merkel's efforts to negotiate a new agreement for an emissions cap by 2009. By refusing to set an example for China and India, Bush is breaking with the practice of all his predecessors since 1945. They saw to it that America was a leader in the organizations and treaties that preserved the international order created in the aftermath of World War II.

Bush ought to heed the entreaties on climate change from allies such as Merkel, Tony Blair, and France's newly elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy. They understand what he should grasp: that without rational American action to help reduce greenhouse gases, it will be even harder to resolve other knotty problems on the agenda at Heiligendamm. Among these are independence for Kosovo, Iran's nuclear program, the genocide in Darfur, the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and AIDS in Africa.

America will sacrifice its credibility on these issues if it lags behind its G-8 partners in the fight to halt climate change.