The G8 meets today in Italy, and climate change is one of the major agenda items, as leaders of the world’s largest economies search for agreement on targets for greenhouse gas reductions.
G8 leaders are expected to agree to a goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. This is the level that is generally considered the threshhold for dangerous climate changes.
But agreeing to the goal and agreeing on how to achieve it are quite different.
Climate scientists believe global emissions of greenhouse gases must peak by 2020 and be reduced by more than 50% by 2050 in order to stay below the threshhold.
However, on Tuesday, major developing nations China and India rejected the 2050 goal as part of draft language for a climate treaty. The countries reasserted that they want to see the rich nations of the G8 set targets for deep emissions cuts before they agree to reductions of their own.
Delagates were attempting to draft a negotiating document for the Major Economies Forum (MEF) meeting to be held Thursday on the sidelines of the G8 meeting. The 17 nations in the MEF–including developing nations China, India and Brazil–account for about 80% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The MEF meetings are hosted by the United States in an effort to advance United Nation’s-led negotiations for a new climate change treaty.
Read more about this latest setback at the link below.
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