Reuters: Kerry Wins Fans Abroad with Global Warming Plan

[DrFunkenstein]

OSLO (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry has won plaudits abroad for his promises to fight global warming but could find his hands tied at home if he wins next month's U.S. elections.

An ideological chasm separates the environmental policies of the two candidates, with President Bush favoring more use of domestic coal and oil to cut dependence on Middle East oil while Kerry seeks a shift to clean energy like solar or wind power by 2020.

On global warming, Kerry wins fans abroad by pledging to rejoin international efforts to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases by the United States, the world's top polluter, even though he rules out signing up for the U.N.'s Kyoto protocol.

Bush angered U.S. allies by abandoning Kyoto in 2001.

The Republican president has derided Kyoto as too costly and says it is unfair because it exempts rapidly industrializing countries like China and India. "It's one of those deals where, in order to be popular in the halls of Europe, you sign a treaty," he said.

Kerry says Bush should have tried to renegotiate a "flawed" Kyoto rather than ditching it. Kyoto is set to enter into force in the next few weeks with Russian backing.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=6&u=/nm/20041020/pl_nm/campaign_world_environment_dc