G8 holds back on way to tackle climate change

Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8), concluding their three-day summit in Gleneagles, central Scotland on Friday, seemed to hold back on the way to tackle climate change as their declaration lacks certain targets or timetable for carbon reduction.

They understood that "climate change is a serious and long-term challenge that has the potential to affect every part of the globe. "

In the text, the leaders acknowledged that increased need and use of energy from fossil fuel, and other human activities, contribute in large part to global warming.

They reached consensus to take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emission.

"While uncertainty remain in our understanding of climate science, we know enough to act now to put ourselves on a path to slow and, as the science justifies, stop and then reverse the growth of greenhouse gas," said the declaration.

But the statement only mentioned the Kyoto Protocol once which obligates the developed countries to cut greenhouse five gas emission 5.7 percent less than the level of 1990 by 2012.

The UN pact was signed by seven G8 countries except the United States who opposed it for economic reasons.

At a press conference after the summit, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "we are not going to negotiate certain targets. We will never ensure the US to adopt the Kyoto Protocol."

He put climate change, along with Africa, the two main issues for the summit agenda.

Environmentalists blamed his failure to get the United States lined up with other seven countries on Kyoto Protocol.

"Tony Blair has not succeeded in bringing the US back to the table. Instead it (the statement) highlights the divisions between President (Bush) and the rest of the world on tackling climate change," said a statement released from Greenpeace on Friday.

"This is a very disappointing finale. The G8 have delivered nothing new here and the text conveys no sense of the scale or urgency of the challenge," said Tony Juniper, Vice Chair of Friends of the Earth.

The leaders did pledge to take efforts to improve energy efficiency, invest in cleaner energy technology and cooperate with emerging economies.

China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, which attended the summit, issued a joint statement Thursday endorsing the Kyoto Protocol and urging developed countries such as the United States to "take the lead in international action to combat climate change by fully implementing their obligations of reducing emissions."

Source: Xinhua