June 29, 2008

‘Large Rhetorical Statement’ On Emissions Reductions Expected At G8

Pew Environment Group Deputy Managing Director Philip Clapp said in a telephone briefing that the likely outcome of the G8 climate change talks July 7-9 is a “large rhetorical statement that everyone is committed to reduce their (carbon) emissions,” AFP reports.

“There has been a very little agreement on actual outcome from that process that will be announced on the final day of the G8 summit on July 9, coinciding with the conclusion of the summit itself,” Clapp says.

He said that while he expects “a little more definition as to the levels nations should agree to,” he doesn’t expect any significant negotiations to take place.

In May, environment ministers from the Group of Eight nations pledged “strong political will” toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 but stopped short of pledging firm commitments for mid-century or mid-term goals for 2020.

Even Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda conceded recently that the G8 would not set targets on cutting post-Kyoto protocol GHG emissions.

Tokyo is the first city in Japan to pass legislation that, by fall of 2010, will require a cap-and-trade scheme for emissions from 1,300 of the biggest polluters there that are responsible for 20 percent of emissions in the capital.

In a statement prepared by the World Economic Forum and presented to Fukuda recently, 99 companies said a new climate change treaty with incentives to capture and store CO2 is needed to fight global warming.

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