PARIS - In his first foreign-policy declaration, president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy has named climate change France's "first battle," but analysts warn that the combat is long-term and complex.
Sarkozy nailed his green colours to the mast on Sunday in a victory speech after emphatically winning France's top job against Socialist rival Segolene Royal.
In a bold move for a newcomer to the world's top political table, Sarkozy notably accused the United States of hampering efforts to tackle climate change.
While telling "our American friends" that France would stand by its side whenever it was needed, Sarkozy also said: "Friendship is accepting that one's friends can think differently.
"A great nation like the United States has the duty to not create obstacles in the struggle against global warming. Quite the contrary, it should take the lead in this battle.
"What is at stake is the fate of all humanity," warned Sarkozy. "France will make this battle its first battle."
Sarkozy's strident appeal came exactly a month before the Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, where the United States -- the world's big greenhouse-gas polluter -- will find itself uncomfortably in the spotlight.
It will come under intensifying pressure to return to a global deal on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions.
At present, the only treaty for reducing this pollution is the UN's Kyoto Protocol. The treaty runs out at the end of 2012, and talks are underway on how its successor should deliver deeper cuts.
But the process is almost crippled by the absence of the United States, which by itself accounts for a quarter of global emissions.
President George W. Bush abandoned Kyoto in 2001, saying the treaty was too costly for the US economy and unfair, as big developing countries such as China and India are not legally obliged to cut pollution.
Even though Bush has lately acknowledged climate change to be a serious problem, he still bitterly opposes Kyoto's binding cap on emissions, pushing instead a mix of voluntary restraints, energy efficiency and alternative energy sources.
"It's important that Nicolas Sarkozy has joined (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair and (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel in calling on the Americans to step up efforts in the climate negotiations," said Yannick Jadot, a climate specialist with Greenpeace.
"But is even more important from our viewpoint is to spell out that the United States should rejoin the post-2012 negotiation process and see how it will catch up on emissions cuts that should have been made for the period leading up to 2012."
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, a lawmaker with Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) party and specialist on environmental questions, said the United States bore a heavy share of responsibility for global warming.
"They are very sensitive about anything that touches, even remotely, on loss of sovereignty and they consider the emergence of environmental governance as a sovereignty issue," she said.
"When it comes to the federal government, there is a gulf between the proposals that are being made (by Washington) and what should be expected of a country like the United States."
Serge Orru of the green group WWF said coaxing the United States back into the game was only one part of a wider challenge.
China, India, Brazil and other fast-developing, large-population nations also have to be encouraged into reining in their pollution, he said.
China, the most populous nation, is the second biggest polluter and is set to take the top spot in the next couple of years.
The most effective way is for France, and Europe, to meet its promises under the present Kyoto round, press ahead with its pledge to deepen emissions cuts by 2020, boost renewables' share in the energy mix and encourage the transfer of clean technology, said Orru.
"It's fine to tick off our American friends, but France and Europe have to be exemplary," said Orru. "We have to show the emerging countries that it is possible to develop their economies differently."

05/07/2007 15:15 GMT