Biggest polluters back deep cuts to emissions

By Krishna Guha and Reuters in Toyako
Published: July 9 2008 04:16

The world’s biggest polluters agreed on Wednesday on the need for ”deep cuts” in greenhouse gas emissions, but differences between developed and emerging economies kept them from setting specific targets.
Climate change has been the most contentious topic at this year’s Group of Eight summit in Japan, which the heads of big emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil were invited to join on the third and final day.

The statement by leaders of 16 countries, including top emitters China and the United States, came a day after the G8 rich nations endorsed a target of halving global emissions by 2050 while stressing they could not achieve that goal alone.
Tuesday’s G8 statement papered over deep gaps, with the United States opposed to committing to firm targets without assurances big emerging economies will act too.
Developing countries, along with the European Union and green groups, say rich countries must take the lead and specify interim targets for how to reach the mid-century goal, which scientists say is the minimum needed to prevent dangerous global warming.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday’s meeting had been constructive.
”We have to get real,” Barroso said in a statement.
”It is quite wrong to see this in terms of a confrontation between developed and developing countries. Of course we accept the lion’s share of responsibility but this is a global challenge, which requires a global response.”
But environmentalists immediately blasted the agreement, which represented no changes from an earlier draft agreed on in late June by negotiators from the same countries in Seoul.
”It’s the stalemate we’ve had for a while,” Kim Carstensen, director of the WWF’s global climate initiative, told Reuters.
”Given the lack of willingness to move forward, particularly by the U.S., it hasn’t been possible to break that.”
Climate experts are sceptical that any significant advance on steps to combat global warming can be made until a new U.S. president comes to office in January 2009.
On Wednesday, the 16 countries’ leaders agreed major developed economies would set mid-term goals, but set out no specific numbers. The group also said poorer countries would act to rein in rapid growth in their emissions.
The stance of emerging nations is important. The G8 nations emit about 40 percent of mankind’s greenhouse gas emissions. China and India together emit about 25 percent of the total, a proportion that is rising as their coal-fueled economies boom.
A Japanese government official told reporters that only Indonesia, Australia and South Korea had supported the G8 call to share their vision of halving global emissions by 2050. The others arguing that advanced countries that are responsible for the bulk of historical emissions must act first.
”China is a developing country and is in the process of industrialisation and modernisation,” China’s state Xinhua news agency quoted President Hu Jintao as saying.
”People’s living standards are still not high, and China’s core task at present is developing its economy and improving people’s welfare.”
The G8 summit on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido brings together the leaders of Japan, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the United States.
Climate change was not the only bone of contention at Wednesday’s talks. The Group of Eight has expressed “strong concerns” about the sharp rise in the price of oil, which “poses risks to the global economy”.
But the leaders of the main industrialised economies did not take any concrete steps to try to moderate the oil price in the near term. Instead, the group called for concerted efforts to address underlying supply and demand pressures.
While reaffirming its faith in global growth prospects, the G8 said the world economy “is now facing uncertainty, and downside risks persist”. It warned of the specific danger that high oil and food prices could “increase global inflationary pressure” as well as have “serious ­implications for the most vulnerable”.
The G8 communiqué said financial market conditions had “improved somewhat in the past few months” but that serious strains still existed. The group urged banks and regulators to implement quickly all the measures to increase financial resilience set out by the Financial Stability Forum.
The top industrialised nations made a further attempt to revive the Doha round of trade talks, calling on all countries to “work as a matter of urgency toward the conclusion of the ­negotiations”.
Earlier, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said she hoped the negotiations could be wrapped up “over the next few weeks”. Trade ministers meet on July 21.
US officials said a deal would require significant movement on all three fronts – agriculture, goods and services. They said this could not be achieved by the G8 alone and would need concessions by the big emerging markets.
The G8 said oil production and refining capacity “should be increased in the short term” and steps taken to boost investment in oil over the medium term.
Meanwhile, leaders said it would be “important” to make “further efforts to improve energy efficiency as well as pursue energy diversification”.
The G8 – which includes only one big net oil exporter, Russia – said it would enhance its “partnership” with oil producers and would create an energy forum to focus on energy efficiency and new technologies.
The group reiterated its strong support for efforts to increase energy market transparency, including moves by regulators for increased transparency of commodity futures markets.
Dan Price, deputy US national security adviser for international economic affairs, told reporters that the economic declaration “does not contain per se any specific commitments”. But the fact that the G8 had set out an agreed approach to tackling high oil prices, including by reaching out to other nations, was “itself a very significant step”.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008