G8 Close-in on Deal for 'Substantial' Cut in Greenhouse Gases

As the G8 Summit continued in Heiligendamm, Germany Thursday, world leaders were nearing an agreement on what has been said are "substantial" cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is clear that the agreement will be nowhere near the European calls for a halving of carbon emissions.

|PIC1|Following a meeting with US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters: "I think it's possible that we leave this summit with a commitment on the part of everyone to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as a global target."

However, Bush has already said that it is too early to attempt to put numerical values on goals at the Germany G8 Summit.

Despite the apparent lack of urgency, President Bush did offer some encouragement, saying: "The U.S. will be actively involved -- if not taking the lead -- in a post-Kyoto framework."

The United States till now it is the only G8 nation who has refused to sign up to the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol, which aims to cut greenhouses gases till 2012.

The Heiligendamm summit has been greeted with scepticism, with many critics calling it the most expensive "talking shop" in the world. However, its host - German Chancellor Angela Merkel - has tried to drive forward a goal-orientated discussion towards reducing carbon emissions, calling for the G8 nations to cut levels by 50 per cent by 2050 to halt climate change.

Merkel has said that 50 percent cuts are needed to ensure that global temperatures do not rise more than 2 Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a threshold the EU has said will trigger "dangerous" changes in the climate system.

However, Bush has been one of the leading critics of trying to set targets now. Instead he plans to call together the leading 15 greenhouse emitters -- led by the United States, China, Russia and India -- to agree on cuts beyond 2012 by the end of 2008.

British Oil group BP, which supports the target of halving emissions by 2050, said that a long-term goal would help develop new technologies.

Chris Mottershead, energy and environment adviser to BP said, "It needs to be quantitative, numerical," according to Reuters.