President Bush's $2 billion proposal to help finance cleaner technologies for developing countries may be too little, too late, the Christian Science Monitor reports. While some laud Monday's State of the Union plan as "a major landmark in addressing global warming," critics argue expecting voluntary contributions from other industrial nations "adds up to lots of rhetoric and little actual change."
Compared to the $100 billion China puts into new oil and coal resources every year, Bush's proposal seems a small sum. But Bush might have softened his stance of boycotting a global climate arrangement without India and China. US News and World Report believes the fund is "an acknowledgment that maybe we should lend a hand if we want to get them on board." (More George W. Bush stories.)