G-8 Vows Greenhouse Gas Curbs; US Escapes Targets

The G-8 summit vows a renewed global push to combat climate change – but declines to set any firm limits for now. The European Union, Japan and Canada promise to halve carbon emissions by 2050, while the US and Russia still balk at setting targets. The Bush administration wants any goals to cover developing nations like China and India. Otherwise “nothing is going to happen in terms of substantial reductions,” US President George Bush maintained in this Bloomberg.com report. US corporations, voters and other politicians have urged the Bush administration to act on climate change – and the US will join other nations on negotiations to replace the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change with more stringent controls. Talks for a global agreement on climate change begin in December 2007 – and will conclude in 2009. German Chancellor Angela Merkel contends: “No one can escape this political commitment.” – YaleGlobal