G-8 Fails to Agree on 2020 Emissions Goals

KOBE, Japan, May 26 -- Under pressure to boost talks on a new global warming pact, Group of Eight environment ministers on Monday endorsed halving greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century but failed to agree on much more contentious near-term targets.

The three-day meeting here was dominated by calls from the United Nations, European countries and developing nations to move forward on setting targets for cutting emissions by 2020. Scientists say those targets are needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming.

But the G-8 ministers, from the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Russia, in a carefully worded statement, mentioned only the need to set such targets eventually. That frustrated environmentalists and some European ministers.

"From a scientific point of view, we need a clear reduction target because the next 20 years are very vital, very important for climate change and the decisions we make in this process," said Matthias Machnig, Germany's state minister for the environment.

The meeting was meant to set the stage for the G-8 summit in Japan in July. Tokyo has put climate change at the center of the agenda, and many are hoping for a strong signal from the summit to push forward wider international talks on global warming.

In their statement, the ministers said there was "strong political will" to reach agreement at the summit to cut emissions 50 percent by 2050. The statement cited the need for global gas emissions to peak within the next 10 to 20 years, and it called on developing countries with rapidly rising greenhouse gas emissions to work to curb the increase.

The ministers acknowledged developing nations' demands for help in financing and technology transfer to become more energy-efficient, develop their economies more cleanly, and adapt to changes wrought by warming, such as rising sea levels.

The United Nations launched negotiations late last year on a new climate change pact to take over when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012. Negotiators face a deadline of December 2009, when some 190 countries will meet in Copenhagen.

Deep divisions, however, have plagued the talks.

European nations support a U.N. scientific finding that emissions cuts of 25 to 40 percent by 2020 are needed to stop global temperatures from rising so high that they trigger widespread environmental damage. The United States, however, considers such cuts beyond reach, while Japan says it's premature to commit to 2020 limits. Developing nations are clamoring for commitments by rich countries before they discuss what poorer countries should do.

U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said strong commitments by industrialized countries to cut gases were needed to encourage rapidly developing nations such as China and India to curb their own emissions.

"While I think a long-term goal is good, I hope that agreeing to one doesn't consume too much time and detract from what I think should be the primary focus, namely providing clarity on where rich nations intend to be in 2020," he said.