G8 summit

Leaders from the world's major economies are set to meet on the fringes of this week's G8 summit (8-10 July) to discuss ongoing efforts to reach a international agreement on climate change. In advance of the meeting, Greens/EFA Co-President Rebecca Harms commented:

"There had been much expectation that this meeting of major economies or emitters would help make progress on some of the main outstanding political sticking points in the UN climate talks. This would mean outlining the medium term (until 2020) emissions reduction targets for rich countries and how the effort should be distributed, as well as giving a clear commitment on climate financing for developing countries. A breakthrough on either of these issues would make this week's talks a true success.

"Reports now suggest that the outcome will be little more than a broad political statement, with no concrete steps to progress the UN process. This would clearly be a disappointment after all the hype generated by this meeting. The UN climate negotiations (under the UNFCCC) will ultimately decide on a post-2012 climate deal. Efforts must now be redoubled to make progress on the major political issues by the autumn, so that the full architecture of the post-2012 deal can be worked out by the UN climate summit in December in Copenhagen (COP15).

"In the broader context, industrialised countries will have to do more to show that their commitment to preventing warming of more than 2ºC is more than just rhetoric. The measures that are taken to deliver greenhouse gas emissions reductions domestically will have to match the recommendations of the scientific consensus. The EU climate package will have to be scaled up considerably to be consistent with the 2 degree objective in order to show real climate leadership."