The United States must take immediate steps to slow global warming, including working with other nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a U.S. think tank said Wednesday. The Pew Center for Global Climate Change said in a report that the United States has waited too long to seriously address the climate change problem and listed 15 steps the world's largest polluter could take to reduce emissions it produces. "This transition will not be easy, but it is crucial to begin now," the report said. "Further delay will only make the challenge before us more daunting and more costly." Most of the world's industrialized countries are part of the Kyoto Protocol that imposes targets to reduce global warming emissions. But President George W. Bush refused to join the international agreement because he said it could hurt the U.S. economy. "The United States should declare its intention to work with other countries to strengthen the multilateral framework for climate action, [and] the executive branch should analyze the full range of options and their potential consequences," the Pew report said. The U.S. government must establish a "reliable and credible" system for measuring and reporting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the report said. A cap on emissions should be set for the whole U.S. economy, and then tradable allowances issued to emitters, the group proposed. The Pew Center's call for action came as a group of 85 evangelical Christian leaders urged the U.S. Congress to pass legislation that would require power plants, oil refineries, the transportation sector, and other U.S. industries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
