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In the framework, the President wants to gather both major developed and developing economies that generate the majority of greenhouse gas emissions and consume the most energy. Together, ?climate change must be addressed in a way that enhances energy security and promotes economic growth.?

The President is keen to promote clean energy technologies. Indeed, the United States has invested over $12billion in developing ?cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy sources.? This is on top of the $7.4billion the President has requested for ?climate change-related research, development, and deployment programmes, voluntary partnerships, and international aid efforts.?

Indeed, the US Department of Energy released figures showing that America's ?wind power capacity increased by 27 percent in 2006; and that the US had the fastest growing wind power capacity in the world in 2005 and 2006.? The report go on to show that America produced roughly 16 percent of the worldwide wind market, followed by Germany, India, Spain, and China.

A number of questions still remains, however. Why another set of meetings to discuss climate change and targets for mitigating emissions and developing alternative energy sources? Isn't there already the UN (which already has everyone around the table) or the G8? Many suggest that this is simply a delaying tactic ahead of next week's G8 meeting in Germany.

The leaked draft 'G8 Declaration on Climate Change' and the America rejection of the Kyoto Declaration clearly shows that America is not yet ready to set emissions targets, at least, targets that are not as ambitious as Germany's.

Clearly, the President's main aim is to seek the silver bullet that will give it independence of mid-East oil, thus gaining the energy security he so eagerly wants. Until such time that technology exists, America will not agree to any targets.

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