G8 countries agree to reduce CO2 emission by 50% by 2050

In a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations at Kobe in Japan the environment ministers urged the USA and Japan to reduce green house gas emissions by 2020. The eight countries of the G-8 nations: the USA, Japan, Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia and France are aiming to reduce the emission of CO₂ and other harmful gases by 50% by 2050. According to the ministers these steps are very much necessary to avoid the future ecologic disasters caused by global warming. AP reports:

But a major focus of the meeting in Kobe is midterm targets for 2020, which scientists say are needed to avoid a potentially disastrous rise in world temperatures of more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over levels prior to the industrial age.

"A long-term goal is not a substitute for midterm, mandatory targets," said Matthias Machnig, Germany's environment minister.

The European Union has pledged a 20 percent emissions reduction by 2020, and has offered to raise it to 30 percent if other nations sign on. A U.N.-brokered agreement last December included a footnote referencing the need for cuts of between 25 percent and 40 percent.

The United States, however, has not committed to a midterm goal, demanding that top developing countries like China also commit to reductions. Japan has called for emissions by industrialized countries to begin to fall in the next one or two decades, but it too has stopped short of setting a 2020 target.

The United Nations has urged the G8 countries to reduce emission but it has not been fruitful. According to U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer, enthusiasm to reduce emissions is waning among the developed countries. He said that G8 countries should send serious message to the world. Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita said that world’s richest countries should take the first step in battling the climate change.

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