16/04/2008 21:39 PARIS, April 16 (AFP)

South Africa reacted acidly to President George W. Bush's plan on climate change on Wednesday, lashing it as a retreat from previous US positions that would leave the United States "alone against the overwhelming majority of the world."

In a statement issued in Paris, where he was to attend a two-day meeting of major carbon emitters, Environment and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said Bush's speech was "particularly disappointing."

"It seems as if the current US administration wants to turn back the clock to where we were before the breakthrough achieved in Bali in December 2007, when all countries, including the United States, agreed to a Bali Roadmap that outlines the negotiation process and building blocks for a strengthened climate agreement," said Schalkwyk.

The Bali Roadmap set down by the 190-country UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aims at agreeing on a pact for deepening cuts in greenhouse gases blamed for disrupting Earth's climate system.

The deal would be completed by the end of 2009 and take effect from the end of 2012, when current pledges under the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol expire.

In 2001, Bush abandoned Kyoto, saying it was too costly for the oil-dependent US economy and its format was unfair, as only rich countries -- and not emerging giants such as India and China -- had to sign up to legally binding emissions targets.

On Wednesday, Bush called for the growth in US greenhouse gas emissions to be stopped by 2025, although his speech was short on specifics on how to achieve these targets and mentioned no legal curbs for forcing industry to meet this goal.

And he also spelled out his objections to any post-2012 UNFCCC deal that failed to embrace fast-growing populous nations.

The United States supports a post-Kyoto regime that encompasses every major economy "and gives none a free ride," the president said.

In his reaction, Schalkwyk said: "There is no way whatsoever that we can agree to what the US is proposing... that the fundamental distinction (under the UNFCCC) between developed and developing countries should be erased and that we should turn a blind eye to historical responsibility for the problem.

"In effect, the US wants developing countries that already face huge poverty and development challenges to pay for what the US and other highly industrialized countries have caused over the past 150 years. We are willing to do our fair share to address the climate challenge, but not to carry a part of the US's burden.

"On this issue, the current US administration is isolated. It is them against the overwhelming majority of the world, developed and developing countries alike."