Major polluters drop pledge to halve emissions
ITALY: Major polluting nations meeting at a G8 summit in Italy have
dropped a pledge to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a
European Union official said Wednesday.
"There is indeed a very strong commitment to identify the global goal
for substantially reducing global emissions by 2050, but there is no 50
percent" mentioned in a draft declaration, the official said on
condition of anonymity.
However, the Group of Eight industrialised countries and other major
polluters agreed ahead of a three-day G8 summit that the target should
be set before a key December climate change meeting in Copenhagen, the
official said. Leaders are coming under growing pressure to make
ambitious commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the summit in
L'Aquila ahead of the Copenhagen meeting.
Officials preparing the summit were "willing" to maintain a target of
trying to limit climate warming to two degrees Celsius compared to
pre-industrial levels, the official said.
They also agreed that greenhouse gas emissions should peak "as soon
as possible" whereas countries belonging to the G8 were seeking a target
of 2020 for the peak in pollution, the official added. L'AQUILA,
Wednesday,
AFP
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