G8 Summit Progress

In a good day for the environment, the G8 countries agreed on new targets for fighting climate change that will be presented to the G5 emerging economy countries on July 9th in L’Aquila, Italy. “Europe and the United States are in favour of cutting carbon dioxide emissions and will adopt a united stance vis-à-vis the emerging economies with a view to arriving at a pledge into which everyone must enter,” said Mr. Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister and G8 summit chairman.
The G8 major industrial countries agreed to limit global warming to just 2°C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels by 2050, with new low carbon emission reduction targets of 80% by 2050 for developed nations, to help achieve a 50% global reduction. This target will need the co-operation of the major emerging industrial economies of China and India.
The devil is in the details though, as tough negotiations between all countries on which dates to use as a reference and how to achieve the targets are now urgently required. However, it now looks more likely that progress will now be made at the United Nations conference in Copenhagen this December.
The UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown was quoted in the BBC as saying that, "I hope tomorrow when we meet other countries we'll follow that through and this is a very significant development, the first time it's ever been done."
In a sign of the times, today, July 8th 2009, the Government of Canada made a statement that, "Canada recognizes the broad scientific view that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed 2°C".
This is a major step forward for Canada and prompted praise from Clare Demerse, Associate Director of the Pembina Institute, a not-for-profit think tank focused on developing innovative sustainable energy solutions; "This is a welcome statement from Canada. The impacts of climate change beyond the 2°C threshold are projected to be catastrophic, especially for some of the world's poorest people. Until today, Canada had never taken a position on what level of global warming is too dangerous. Thanks to pressure from its G8 peers, Canada has now accepted what scientists and leading countries have been saying for years.”