Bush to announce intermediate goal for CO2 emissions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush plans to announce on Wednesday an intermediate goal to limit greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, but will not make specific proposals, the White House said on Tuesday.

Bush will "articulate a realistic intermediate goal for reducing greenhouse gasses" and press for incentives for technology aimed at cutting emissions, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"This speech is not going to lay out a specific proposal," she told reporters. "It is a speech that will talk about a strategy for a way forward and principles for dealing with the problems."

The United States is among the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters along with China, but the Bush administration has adamantly opposed mandatory regulations, citing inaction by China and India.

Bush has also criticized a system of binding caps on emissions, arguing they would harm the U.S. economy.

Perino said Bush will also express his concerns about pending legislation, expected to be debated by Congress in June, aimed at creating a mandatory system to cut the greenhouse emissions that spur climate change.

Bush's speech on Wednesday would come just before U.S. representatives are scheduled to participate in international climate change negotiations in Paris.

Bush's announcement would "ensure that all major economies like France, Germany, China and India, play a role in any international agreement so as to avoid a future Kyoto-like mistake," said Perino.

The U.S. Senate rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which set limits on industrial nations' greenhouse gas emissions, and Bush has opposed it during his presidency.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Chris Wilson)