The G8 industrialized nations will jointly invest more than US$10 billion a year on research and development of technology to combat global warming, a report said yesterday.
The plan, including research on underground storage of carbon dioxides, is included in a draft joint statement on economic policy to be adopted at the G8 summit scheduled for July 7 to July 9 in Japan, the business daily Nikkei Shimbun said.
Climate change will dominate the summit, which will bring together leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the US to the northern Japanese resort of Toyako.
The Nikkei said it had an outline of the draft statement.
The draft was reported to say that the G8 leaders would also seek an agreement on setting country-by-country goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the medium term from 2013.
They will also express their determination to avert a global economic crisis through coordinated efforts to deal with the impact of soaring oil and food prices, the daily said.
On July 9, the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change, a 16-nation forum including China and India, will be held on the sidelines of the G8 summit and issue a separate statement, the daily said.
The draft of the G8 economic statement points to the importance of imposing a long-term goal for cutting global emissions.
But, because Japan and Europe differ with the US over long-term numerical targets, a final decision on the question may be left to the G8 leaders when they meet at Toyako, the report said.
Japan and Europe want gas emissions to be halved around the world by 2050, while the US is cautious about establishing such an ambitious goal, it said.
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