The G8 major powers agreed yesterday to at least halve global carbon emissions by 2050 in what leaders hailed as a step forward, but developing nations demanded they do much more.
After two days huddled in the Japanese mountain resort of Toyako, leaders of the world’s eight most powerful economies also voiced concern about soaring oil and food prices and pledged to speed up aid to Africa.
But the most contentious issue before them was climate change, with US President George W. Bush standing firm on his stance that developing countries must take action before rich nations would budge.
The leaders of the G8 — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US — said they shared a “vision” of reducing emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050.
Last year’s summit in Heiligendamm, Germany had agreed only to “seriously consider” cuts in the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for heating up the planet.
“This is a significant step forward from Heiligendamm,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. “This means that the international community will no longer get off the hook.”
The G8 nations also said they would each set their own interim targets for curbing greenhouse gas emissions for a still unspecified amount of time after the Kyoto Protocol’s obligations expire in 2012.
But in a nod to Bush, the G8 leaders also called on major developing nations to join them in cutting emissions.
The G8 deal was full of ambiguity. Senior Japanese official Koji Tsuruoka said that the long-term goal should be seen as a “political vision” without a clear base year and that it is not legally binding.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to disagree, saying: “We have reached a binding level. That’s real progress.”
Environmentalists, however, said the progress was nothing to shout about.
“If after a year’s work all you have is a ‘shared vision’ instead of ‘seriously considering,’ it’s pretty pathetic,” said Kim Carstensen, head of the WWF’s Global Climate Initiative.
The G8 leaders can expect another difficult round of talks today when they are joined by leaders of the developing world. They also issued a statement yesterday warning that soaring oil and food prices pose a “serious challenge” to world economic growth and calling for boosted oil production capacity.
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