Connaughton spoke to oil industry executives and scientists attending a conference in Houston on voluntary measures to limit climate change.

Connaughton said the amount of greenhouse gases, which are believed to contribute to increasing temperatures that are changing the climate worldwide, have reduced in the U.S. manufacturing sector during the past 10 years but increased in the residential, commercial and transport sectors.

Changes in manufacturing may be less necessary, he said, than improving the technology used in the economic sectors where greenhouse gas emissions are increasing.

More innovative U.S. products sold to developing countries will also improve those nations' ability to limit greenhouse gas emissions, Connaughton said.

"We have to develop and produce it here and we have to sell it there," he said.

The director of an environmental activist organization said Connaughton's statements are consistent with Bush administration proposals on a range of issues.

"They're talking consumerism to improve the environment," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the climate change program of the World Wildlife Program.

"The Bush administration's policies may give market advantage to U.S. companies in the developing world, but don't think it has anything to do with improving the environment," Morgan said.