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The Group of Eight communiqué issued by world leaders at their summit in Gleneagles today highlights the divisions between President Bush and the rest of the world on tackling climate change.

Today marks a historical milestone as the Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, McDonald's and key players join forces to promote innovative ways to fight global warming and ozone layer depletion resulting from commercial refrigeration. The initiative is supported by Greenpeace and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

"Al Gore's unstinting efforts to wake up policy makers and the public alike to the global warming crisis have inspired many around the world to redouble their efforts to protect the planet.

Greenpeace welcomed the Indian Government’s ambitious National Solar Mission (NSM), released on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's summit today with President Obama. The NSM is a good step by India towards climate change mitigation, and it challenges President Obama to make the shift to deep emissions cuts and adequate climate finance that the world needs to avoid a climate catastrophe.

This morning, fifty Greenpeace activists took action to prevent the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and called on world leaders to end global deforestation, which is responsible for about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions (1). The call came as negotiators meet in Barcelona, Spain for the final round of talks before December’s critical UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

“While this shows that the center of gravity in Congress is shifting toward significant long-term reductions in global warming pollution, the target reductions fall very short of what scientists tell us is actually necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. Regrettably, the Senators have also included subsidies for nuclear energy which is inherently dangerous and provides no real solution to global warming.

In response to the climate and energy legislation released today by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Greenpeace USA Executive Director Phil Radford issued the following statement:“Despite the best efforts of Chairman Waxman, this bill has been seriously undermined by the lobbying of industries more concerned with profits than the plight of our planet. While science clearly tells us that only dramatic action can prevent global warming and its catastrophic impacts, this bill has fallen prey to political infighting and industry pressure. We cannot support this bill in its current state. We call on President Obama and leaders in Congress to get back to work and produce a bill, based on science, which presents a clear road map for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transforms our economy with clean, renewable energy technology, generates new green jobs and shows real leadership internationally.”

The total greenhouse gas emission cuts planned by industrialized countries at the UN climate talks in Bonn total a grossly insufficient 4-14 percent by 2020, nowhere near what science says is necessary to avert runaway climate change, Greenpeace warned today.

UPDATE: A new ICF analysis commissioned by Greenpeace shows that the House version of the stimulus package would be more effective in fighting global warming, cutting approximately 12 million metric tons more greenhouse gas emissions than the Senate version. Furthermore, the House version’s energy package would save government and consumers approximately $3 billion more in utility bills annually. See original release below for details on the provisions studied and methodology.

WASHINGTON–-At a time when polluting corporations are trying to use the economic slowdown as an excuse to delay action on global warming, a new Greenpeace report shows that aggressive investment in renewable power and energy efficiency can create a $360 billion a year industry, provide half of the world’s electricity, and slash $18 trillion in future fuel expenditures while protecting the climate.