Stalemates and gestures as the G8 convenes in Italy

Environmental leaders from the Group of Eight (G-8) countries met this week in L’Aquila, Italy to discuss issues such as the economy and climate change. Members of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) on Energy and Climate were in attendance, consisting of the G8, G5, EU, Australia, Indonesia, Denmark and the Republic of Korea and accounting for nearly four-fifths of the world production of greenhouses gases. In a communiqué distributed on Thursday, the countries formally embraced limits to the rise of Earth’s average temperatures while failing to set the targets in numerical terms for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Lack of agreement over official targets highlights the tension that exists between the developing and developed countries. Developed countries want developing countries to commit to binding cuts in emissions However, developing countries want developed countries to cut emissions first and subsidize their conversion away from emission-heavy fuels.

According to U.S. President Barack Obama, “Each of our nations comes to the table with different needs, different priorities, different levels of development. And developing nations have real and understandable concerns about the role they will play in these efforts. They want to make sure that they do not have to sacrifice their aspirations for development and higher living standards.”

Developing countries contend that rich countries utilized fossil fuels such as coal and oil in their development so that they could increase their industrial expansion and their living standards. They argue that by committing to binding cuts in emissions without subsidization, they will undercut their own economic growth by being forced to use more expensive alternatives fuels rather than the relatively cheap (yet emission-heavy) fossil fuels used now.

“It is no small task for 17 leaders to bridge their differences on an issue like climate change,” said Obama. “We each have our national priorities and politics to contend with.” As a result, in an on-going theme in the negotiations leading up to COP-15 in Copenhagen this December, the summit appeared to reflect symbolic gestures made by G-8 leaders rather than concrete resolutions.

Of these gestures, the two most notable steps forward made at this summit were: (1) The G8 countries aim to keep worldwide emissions at a low enough level to allow no more than 2 degrees (Celsius) rise in global temperature; and (2) The G8 countries aim to cut 80% of their emissions by the year 2050 with a world target of 50% in emission cuts by 2050.

These steps may not seem groundbreaking but such official agreements by the United States would have seemed highly unlikely only a year ago under the Bush administration. U.S. President Barack Obama in fact co-chaired the forum, signaling an incredible shift in United States support of international climate change legislation. In addition, the U.S. has already managed to persuade China and Russia to come to the table, although Brazil, India and Indonesia will be highly important when it comes to the negotiations at COP-15 this December.

It is necessary that, by December, at least a political deal is finalized and agreed to even if the technical aspects of finance and implementation take longer to hammer out. Some scientists argue that it is already too late to avoid a rise in temperature of at least two degrees by the end of the century. It is impossible for everyone to be fully satisfied with the result but progress must be made soon in order to minimize the detrimental impact that climate change can cause to millions of the world’s poorest.