G8 agrees on halving emissions by 2050; G5 asks for more news
08 July 2008

Mumbai: The Group of Eight developed nations today agreed to halve the global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 even as five emerging economic powers,  including India, appealed to the grouping to do more to combat climate change.

The G8 nations - the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy - want the leaders of eight fast-growing countries to adopt a "shared vision" of tackling global warming in UN negotiations due to conclude in Copenhagen in December 2009.

In a political declaration adopted at their meeting on the sidelines of the G-8 summit, leaders of the G5, including India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, asked the developed countries to fulfill their Kyoto Protocol commitment and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40 per cent by the year 2020.

The G8 countries 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 G-8 said in a joint statement on climate change.

The G8 also called on nations with sufficient food stocks to release some of their reserves to countries in need to help cope with the situation.

''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.

"The negative impacts of this recent trend could push millions more back into poverty," the G8 said in a statement on food security, adding , that the will ''explore options on a coordinated approach on stock management."

The G8 backed prime minister Manmohan Singh's proposal for a forum to set up a dialogue between producers and consumers to stabilise soaring oil prices which posed a "serious challenge" to world economic growth.

The G-8 leaders voiced "strong concern" over sizzling oil prices and called for 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 G-8 leaders said in a communiqué released on the second day of their three-day annual summit.

As a way forward, the leaders proposed an energy forum focused on energy efficiency and new technology to help a dialogue between producers and consumers.


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G8 agrees on halving emissions by 2050; G5 asks for more