German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Monday expressed regret at the difficulty of reaching an agreement on climate change with the United States.

"We regret very much that we must so far have the impression that it is difficult to reach concrete results with the American administration," Gabriel said after meeting with visiting U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The German government has taken the fight against climate change one of the priorities of Germany's presidencies of the Group of Eight (G-8) and European Union.

Germany has had difficulty in persuading the U.S. to take steps to fight global warming as the June 6-8 Summit of the eight industrialized nations in Heiligendamm approaches.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has recently admitted that progress at the summit is not expected. She told parliament that she did not know "whether we will succeed in Heiligendamm."

Comments on a document released by the environmental group Greenpeace said that the United States is preparing to block a declaration on climate change at the summit.

The G-8 includes Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the United States.

Merkel will try to rescue the talks by seeking a compromise that will not dampen her goal of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases aimed at curbing global warming.

She has also urged the next UN conference on climate change, which is to be held in Indonesia in December, to start negotiating a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The U.S. government has opposed both proposals, saying that it did not want to be tied down to targets aimed at curbing carbon emissions or raise overall energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2020.

Merkel will hold talks with Pelosi on Tuesday to focus on climate change.

U.S. President George W. Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol, which calls on the 35 participating countries to reduce their carbon emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.

Pelosi disagrees with Bush's decision and recently set up a House select committee on energy and environment, but has said she hoped to work on the matter in a " very respectful manner" with the George W. Bush administration.

She said she wanted to find "common ground" over energy with the president and "to keep the door completely open to working with the president on the issue of energy independence and global warming".

Source: Xinhua