G8 agrees to halve emissions by 2050

I/ANI / Berlin June 7, 2007

In a landmark move to fight climate change, the Group of Eight developed countries today agreed to halve by 2050 dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming.

As member states wrangled over the final text today, US President George W Bush said India and China "must" be involved for success of any effort to fight global warming.

The summit host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, said though she was "very, very satisfied" with the agreement the accord was a compromise as it fell short of her hopes for a binding deal.

"Many countries moved on this issue," Merkel said, adding that the accord gave impetus to negotiations beginning in Bali in December to find a successor to the UN-backed Kyoto Protocol on capping greenhouse gases that expires in 2012.

"The very best we could achieve has been achieved," Merkel said.

Bush earlier said, "Nothing is going to happen in terms of substantial reduction unless China and India participate."

"If we want them (India and China) at the table, it is important that we give them the opportunity to set an international goal," he added.

India has held that countries responsible for creating the problem of climate change should come out in a big way to solve this issue. It argues that the greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries even today are many times more than developing countries like India.