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.
Also See: 標題
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS