G8 eens over doelen aanpak klimaatverandering (en)
Leaders from the Group of Eight industrialised nations on Wednesday (8 July) agreed a list of targets designed to mitigate climate change. But prospects appear slim of securing a wider deal with developing nations – including some of the world's largest emitters.
The G8 leaders meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, for three days of meetings (8-10 July), agreed they must contain global temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, the first time the developed countries have formally committed to the target.
United Nations scientists say a 2 degree rise is the maximum that can be allowed if irreversible climate change is to be avoided.
G8 leaders also said that world emission levels should be cut by 50 percent by 2050, and that to achieve this target, developed nations must cut emission levels by 80 percent in the same period.
But the meeting's communiqué does not pin down an exact reference year, saying the targets should be reached by "1990 or more recent years," raising doubts over the exact levels of emission cuts.
There is also no mention of mid-term targets, something European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso had called for in a press conference before the meeting.
Wider deal?
"Europe and the United States are in favour of cutting carbon dioxide emissions and will adopt a united stance vis-à-vis the emerging economies with a view to arriving at a pledge into which everyone must enter," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi i said after chairing the meeting.
However securing a wider deal when the G8 leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK and the US meet with developing nations on Thursday may prove to be difficult.
Talks with Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa – the G5 – are unlikely to convince the major developing countries to sign up to the 50 percent emissions cut target by 2050 without specific financial pledges from the richer countries to help them reach the target.
The early departure of Hu Jintao also makes the prospects of securing a deal more unlikely. The Chinese president returned home on Wednesday to deal with the recent civil unrest in the western Xinjiang territory.
Developed and developing countries will also meet in a larger 17-member format on Thursday afternoon, known as the Major Economies Forum, where US President Barack Obama i will chair the meeting.
However British officials said there was "no chance" the wider format would agree to the G8 targets, reports the Financial Times.
Economy
On the economy, G8 leaders said signs of recovery were appearing but that many risks still remained.
However there was little agreement over how to tackle rising unemployment and how quickly countries should claw back their rising budget deficits.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel i and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt i – whose country currently holds the EU presidency – both called for a timetable to reduce the deficits.
Faced with a less severe downturn than other western countries, Canada also supports this view.
"My own thought is before there's talk of additional stimulus, I would urge all leaders to focus first on making sure the stimulus that's been announced actually gets delivered," said the country's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, at the summit.
The US, Japan, France and Britain resisted commitments to specific exit strategies until it is clear that the crisis is over, however.
Press Articles
-
-
Official Documents