Green Times

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said on Monday that the upcoming Group of Eight summit needs to agree on some goal on climate change, even if it is impossible to reach an emissions target.Mr Fukuda has conceded the July 7-9 summit of the G8 rich nations - Britain, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States - will not set a mid-term goal on slashing emissions blamed for global warming.

‘Although it is hard to reach an agreement regarding the emissions target, it is necessary to have some kind of common goal - in any form,’ Mr Fukuda told a news conference.

Last year’s G8 summit in Germany called for rich nations to ’seriously consider’ reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by 2050.

But the United States, seeking a greater commitment by developing countries such as China and India, says that the G8 is not the right forum to set a goal on climate change.

Mr Fukuda said that he hoped for a post-Kyoto framework in which all major greenhouse gas emitters would have a role.

‘We need to pave the way for something where everyone will participate and will have the same objective,’ Mr Fukuda said.

Rich nations’ obligations to cut greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol expire at the end of 2012.

A UN-led conference in Bali in December set a goal of coming up with a new treaty on global warming by the end of 2009.

The United States is the only major industrial country to reject the Kyoto Protocol, although both major candidates to succeed President George W. Bush next year have promised to do more to fight climate change.

Source: Straits Times, Singapore