June 25, 2007—The world’s eight leading industrialized nations—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US—agreed recently to set a global goal for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. The Group of Eight (G8) leaders committed to taking “strong and early action to tackle climate change in order to stabilize greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-caused) interference with the climate system.”
The leaders will also “consider seriously” the commitment by the European Union, Canada, and Japan to cut global GHG emissions in half by 2050.
The agreement acknowledges the important role of clean energy technologies in achieving GHG reductions and endorses the use of market mechanisms to encourage the development and deployment of these technologies. It also includes an extensive list of international efforts to promote energy efficiency, including the establishment of a “Sustainable Buildings Network” and efforts to encourage energy efficiency in transportation, power generation, and industry.
The G8 agreement calls on all parties to actively participate in the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Indonesia in December to develop a comprehensive agreement that includes all major GHG emitters and would take effect after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires. It also calls for all major emitters to agree on a new global framework for GHG reductions by the end of 2008, which would lead to a global agreement under the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) by 2009.
For more details, see pages 13 to 28 of the G8 Summit Declaration, “Growth and Responsibility in the World Economy” (PDF 212 KB).
