On the eve of a meeting of the world's major polluters in Paris Thursday and Friday, Bush was to announce goals for reducing harmful emissions and to encourage the use of innovative technology to counter environmental pollution. Bush's announcement would include "identifying long term and realistic intermediate goals for greenhouse gas emissions," linked to what US representatives would present at the Major Economies Meeting, Perino said.

"This will ensure that all major economies like France, Germany, China and India play a role in any international agreement so as to avoid a future Kyoto-like effect," she said, referring to the 1997 treaty which did not require high-polluting developing countries to reduce emissions.

This process is "important in our strong belief to prevent companies in other countries from gaining a competitive advantage over US companies," she said.

"In announcing these goals he will emphasize the importance of incentivizing technologies as an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will talk about his concerns with approaches" scheduled for debate in the Senate in June, she said.

Perino reiterated that the president could not support current proposals being discussed in Congress, including a bill that would introduce a European-like system of "cap and trade," because it would harm the US economy.

She was referring to a bill sponsored by Republican Senator John Warner and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman that would set a limit on the level of carbon emissions and introduce economic incentives for cutting back on pollutants.

Legislation under discussion in the Democratic-controlled Congress include "approaches that are unrealistic and/or would have a dramatically negative impact on our economy," Perino said.

Ministers from 16 economies which together account for 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions have gathered in Paris for the "Major Economies Meeting," the third in a series launched last September by Bush.

He wants to identify a long-term overall goal for global warming gases and sketch ways for curbing pollution through a voluntary approach, embracing big energy-burning industries and smart technology.

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