JOHNSTON, United States (AFP) — Several Republican presidential hopefuls on Wednesday declared global warming was real, risking the ire of some staunch conservatives, in a rare foray into the climate change debate.
Senator John McCain and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani supported US efforts to combat greenhouse gas emissions, during a last chance presidential debate, 22 days before Iowa's leadoff nominating contests.
"It's real, we have got to address it," said Arizona senator McCain, who is trying to bounce back after a campaign slump earlier this year.
"But ... suppose that climate change is not real and all we do is adopt green technologies ... then all we've done is given our kids a cleaner world," McCain said, backing a cap-and-trade system to cut harmful emissions.
Giuliani, who differs from some conservatives on social issues, also warned of the perils of global warming.
"Climate change is real. It's happening. I believe human beings are contributing to it," he said, calling for a "Manhattan project" to wean the United States off sources of foreign energy.
Fellow Republican Mitt Romney, who has fallen behind surging former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in Iowa -- a must-win in his campaign strategy -- said the United States could not act alone.
"We call it global warming, not America warming. So let's not put a burden on us alone and have the rest of the world skate by without having to participate in this effort. It's a global effort."
Romney has expressed concern over the economic impact on the United States of signing up to attempts like the Kyoto Protocol to tackle global warming, if major developing states like India and China do not face similar restrictions.
Some conservatives, including several high profile members of Congress, still quarrel with the science on global warming, while others fear the economic cost of battling climate change.
In recent times, some evangelical conservatives have started to embrace the idea that protecting the planet is a religious duty.
Republicans have generally been less keen to address climate change during the 2008 campaign than Democrats, and President George W. Bush's administration has long been accused by foreign governments of being slow to address the challenge.
Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have laid out detailed plans to cut US greenhouse gas emissions and to cut US dependence on foreign oil.
The issue of the environment is taking more of a role in this election than any previous one, as awareness grows in America of the perceived costs of global warming.
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