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G8 leaders agree on halving emissions by 2050

From right Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki before the start of the G8 summit in Sapporo, Japan on Tuesday. — PTI

Sapporo (Japan), July 8
The group of eight powerful nations (G8) today agreed to halve the global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 even as five developing countries, including India, appealed to the grouping to do more to combat climate change.

The G8 countries - the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy - also called on all major countries such as China and India to take steps to stem the potentially dangerous rise in world temperatures.

“This global challenge can only be met by a global response, in particular by the contributions from all major economies,” the G8 said in a joint statement on climate change.

However, developing countries like South Africa quickly dismissed the G8 agreement as an “empty slogan” that would not save the planet from global warming.

“While the statement may appear as a movement forward, we are concerned that it may, in effect, be a regression from what is required to make a meaningful contribution to meeting the challenges of the climate change,” South Africa’s environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said.

The G8 last year at a summit in Germany pledged to seriously consider the same target, and this year Japan had hoped to solidify that commitment at the ongoing summit. The communique, however, addressed world emissions rather than just those produced by wealthy countries.

Deeply concerned about the soaring food prices, the G8 also called on nations with sufficient food stocks to release some of their reserves to countries in need to help cope up with the situation.

Huddled in talks amid tight security in this spa resort, the G8 leaders said they were “deeply concerned” about soaring food prices and supply shortages in some developing countries.

“We also call for countries with sufficient food stocks to make available a part of their surplus for countries in need, in times of significantly increasing prices and in a way not to distort trade,” they added.

According to World Bank estimates, rising food prices have pushed 100 million people below the poverty line across the world.

Earlier, G8 today backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposal for a forum to set up a dialogue between producers and consumers to stablise soaring oil prices which posed a “serious challenge” to world economic growth.

As the threat from spiralling inflation became the top economic concern for the G8, their leaders voiced “strong concern” over sizzling oil prices and an increase in crude production and refining capacity to dampen the crude market.

“We express our strong concern about elevated commodity prices, especially of oil and food, since they pose a serious challenge to stable growth worldwide, have serious implications for the most vulnerable, and increase global inflationary pressure,” the G8 leaders said. As a way to enhance energy security, the leaders proposed an energy forum focused on energy efficiency and new technology to help a dialogue between producers and consumers.

According to a Japanese official, some of the G8 leaders also blamed speculation behind the doubling of oil prices to $140 a barrel, a point flagged by India at the recent emergency meeting of oil ministers in Jeddah.

The communiqué said on the supply side, production and refinery capacities should be increased in the short term. — PTI