G8 leaders on Wednesday agreed for the first time to cut their cumulative greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.
This announcement, made during the first of three days of meetings in
L'Aquila, Italy, may assist the ongoing international negotiations for
a new climate change treaty.
Earlier in the week, developing nations India and China rejected language
in a draft negotiating text for the Major Economies Forum (MEF) that
set 50% emissions reductions targets for mid-century. The developing
nations said rich nations must first commit to deep emissions cuts of
their own.
The G8 declaration includes the 50% target for global emissions
and went further, stating that developing nations would reduce their
emissions to 80% below 1990 levels or "more recent years."
Climate scientists have called for 80% reductions below 1990 levels to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
The G-8 agreement calls on emerging economies to make "quantifiable" reductions in emissions compared with "business as usual."
On Wednesday, the G8 leaders also pledged to prevent global
temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, as expected.
However, they removed language from prior draft documents that called
for a peak in global emissions by 2020.
Also--perhaps in retribution for China and India's move earlier
in the week--the G8 leaders cut from the latest declartion support for
$400 million in funding for developing nations to assist in the
transition to low-carbon technologies.
U.S. President Barack Obama reportedly told Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva that there is still time to "close the gap" on
negotiating differences between industrialized and developing nations,
concering climate change.
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