US Climate Envoy - Major Polluters Should Set Individual Voluntary Goals

Major greenhouse gas emitters should set voluntary curbs on emissions for the time being since a U.N. climate treaty looks out of reach in 2011, the U.S. climate envoy said on Monday.

Todd Stern said Washington did not expect a legally binding deal at U.N. climate talks in South Africa late this year. Many countries have lowered ambitions after a summit of world leaders failed to agree a treaty at a 2009 summit in Copenhagen.

"When the time is right, a legal agreement would be a good idea, and we are for it," Stern told reporters during a visit for talks on global warming with South African officials.

"But I don't at all think that what we are doing now, in the period that is not in a legally binding structure, lacks value or meaning or import," he said.

EDIT

http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/61274

:puke:

Which is why you need regulations that everyone has to live by.

There is no such thing as voluntary regulation.

A lot of voters seem confused on that, but the people with power are well aware of it.

...then voluntary reductions would happen. For example, market demands are causing US manufacturers to reduce or eliminate use of pthalates (plasticizers).