27 May 2008The IndependentJoseph Coleman
Under pressure to boost talks on a new global warming pact, Group of Eight environment ministers yesterday endorsed slashing greenhouse gas emissions in half by mid-century, but failed to agree on much more contentious near-term targets.
The three-day meeting in Kobe was dominated by calls from the UN, European countries and developing nations to move forward on setting midterm targets for cutting emissions by 2020, which scientists say are needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming.
Ministers from the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Russia, however, only mentioned the need to eventually set such targets in a carefully worded statement, frustrating 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 environment.
The Kobe meeting was meant to set the stage for the G8 summit in Toyako, 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.
Ministers welcomed the agreement, which cited "strong political will" for an agreement at the summit to cut emissions by 50 percent by 2050. The statement also cited the need for global gas emissions to peak within the next 10 to 20 years, and it called on developing countries with rapidly expanding greenhouse gas emissions to work to curb the rate of increase.
"As we head toward the Toyako summit, I believe this meeting has provided momentum," said Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita.
The ministers also nodded to developing nations' demands for help in financing and technology transfer to become more energy efficient, grow their economies more cleanly, and adapt to changes wrought by warming, such as rising sea levels.
The UN 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 nations will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Deep divisions, however, have plagued the talks.
European nations support a UN scientific finding that emissions cuts of between 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020 are needed to stop global temperatures from rising so high they trigger widespread environmental damage. The United States, however, considers such cuts beyond reach, while Japan says it's premature to specify midterm target. Developing nations are clamoring for commitments by rich countries before they discuss what poorer countries should do.
Environmentalists were disappointed with the agreement.
"Kobe gave ministers the opportunity to accelerate the slow progress of G8 climate negotiations, but they failed to send a signal of hope for a breakthrough in Hokkaido in July", said Naoyuki Yamagishi, Head of the Climate Change Programme at WWF Japan, in a statement.
UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said strong national commitments to cut gases by industrialized countries 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.
