Leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) developed countries began their summit on Wednesday, July 8, with the economic crisis and climate change at the top of their three-day agenda. The G8 leaders are from the US, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Russia and Canada.
The summit assumes significance in the backdrop of a new global agreement on climate change to replace the current Kyoto Protocol that will expire in 2012. The Copenhagen meeting at the end of the year is expected to find an alternative to Kyoto.
Apart from deliberating on the global financial crisis, the G8 leaders are expected to try to arrive at an agreement on additional cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the fight against climate change.
It was expected that the major countries may agree on a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050, with the developed countries reducing theirs by 80 percent. But on the first day itself, negotiators failed to reach agreement in this regard, with China and India were adamant that the developed countries should first promise to cut their own emissions significantly by 2020 before asking developing nations to commit to a long term target.
If participating countries can adopt a draft statement that global temperatures should not be permitted to rise more than 2C above pre-industrial levels it will really be a breakthrough.
The summit assumes significance in the backdrop of a new global agreement on climate change to replace the current Kyoto Protocol that will expire in 2012. The Copenhagen meeting at the end of the year is expected to find an alternative to Kyoto.
Apart from deliberating on the global financial crisis, the G8 leaders are expected to try to arrive at an agreement on additional cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the fight against climate change.
It was expected that the major countries may agree on a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050, with the developed countries reducing theirs by 80 percent. But on the first day itself, negotiators failed to reach agreement in this regard, with China and India were adamant that the developed countries should first promise to cut their own emissions significantly by 2020 before asking developing nations to commit to a long term target.
If participating countries can adopt a draft statement that global temperatures should not be permitted to rise more than 2C above pre-industrial levels it will really be a breakthrough.
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