Leaders of the industrialised world, meeting in a key Group of Eight (G8) summit in Toyako, Japan, have agreed to halve their countries' carbon emissions by the year 2050.
Image: G8 summit 2008 logo
However the leaders sidestepped the setting of any interim goals and only agreed after taking into account the U.S.'s concerns about including developing industrialised nations such as China and India into the target.
A joint statement by the leaders said they would "seek to adopt, as a global goal, the goal of achieving at least 50 percent reduction of global greenhouse emission by 2050," they said. "We, the G8, have confirmed today here at Toyako that this long-term goal is an appropriate and necessary goal for the Earth."
"It has always been the case that a long-term goal is one that must be shared," said Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. "So what the G8 has offered today is a G8 view of what that goal could be and should be, but that can only occur with the agreement of all the other parties," he said, answering critics from the environmental movement who have maintained that developed nations should lead the way.
Environmental groups have disputed the wording of the agreement. They contend the leaders have committed to a "goal" of halving greenhouse gases by mid-century, however this falls far short of the "binding targets" sought by environmentalists. The communique is also unclear about the base year from which the emissions should be calculated.
The Daily Telegraph quotes Peter Grant, the director of Tearfund International, a campaign group, as saying the result was a "very disappointing outcome" that demonstrated a "lack of leadership and vision". John Sauven, head of Greenpeace UK, clearly blamed the influence of the U.S. president saying: "Thank God this was Bush's last G8."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel though was satisfied with the outcome. Speaking to reporters she said the declaration was a "major step forward" from previous G8 positions. "I'm very satisfied with the work that has gone on on the G8 documents, as regards progress on the issue of climate change," she added.
Host Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan, who has pledged a "green" summit, said the agreement was the basis for future negotiation with other countries.
"It goes without saying that the achievement of the long-term goal will only be realized with the contribution for other major economies. At tomorrow's Major Economies Meeting, we will strongly call on such countries for cooperation."
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