Bodman rejected the approach already adopted by European nations of sharply curbing the emissions of greenhouse gases that drive global warming, setting up a potential clash at next month's Group of Eight summit hosted by Germany in the town of Heiligendamm on June 6-8.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, backed by Tony Blair of Britain, are pushing for a strong commitment at the summit from the world's most industrialized nations on curbing greenhouse gases.

The United States has reportedly objected to provisions in a draft summit statement pledging to ensure that average global temperatures do not rise by more than 2 C (3.2 F), and to cut carbon dioxide pollution by 50 percent before 2050, with 1990 the baseline in both cases.

Bodman said the most promising technology for mitigating global warming was carbon sequestration, the storing of industrial carbon emissions in chambers deep under ground, followed by the expansion of nuclear and then solar power.

The other G-8 members are Russia, Canada, Japan, Italy and France, where newly elected President Nicolas Sarkozy singled out global warming in his acceptance speech last week as a top international priority.

Five invited developing countries will also attend the summit, including China and India.

Bush has consistently said that he would not adopt any measures to combat climate change that might jeopardise the US economy, and that any international agreement on greenhouse gases would have to include developing countries.

"It is important to recognize that as they grow, their contribution will become increasingly important," Bodman said.

The Kyoto Protocol, the only global agreement on carbon emissions, excludes developing nations and has been rejected by the US. Negotiations to expand the treaty beyond its 2012 expiration are slowly gathering pace ahead of a key meeting in Bali, Indonesia in December.

China is set to overtake the US in the next couple of years as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, though the US remains by far the largest carbon polluter on a per capita basis.

Bodman said that there was not scientific basis for linking atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and rising temperatures, and that emission targets were thus a bad idea.

This would appear to contradict the conclusions in a report issued last month by the United Nation's top panel of climate scientists, which stipulates the carbon levels corresponding to different temperature increases.

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