14 DAY TRIAL // According to a declaration published by the participant nations in the G8 Summit this year, developing and developed nations alike have agreed that global temperatures must not be allowed to increase by more than 2° Celsius from 1990 levels. Leaders of the most powerful countries discussed with presidents and other heads of state from around the world, and convened to take action at the December UN summit, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The announcement is very important, as a failure of these talks would have meant a failure at the UN meeting as well, the BBC News reports.
However, there were critics to the new measures. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that, while the 2050 targets set by the agreement were an historic achievement, the G8 group should have also decided for shorter-term targets, until 2020, for instance. Additionally, the official stated, a large drawback of these discussions was the fact that the developed world failed to convince the Third World of the necessity behind agreeing to reduce pollution and carbon emissions by 50 percent until 2050.
This means that only the members of G8 have taken it upon themselves to do this. They include the United Kingdom, the United States, the Russian Federation, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada. And, while the US is a major polluter in the world, the agreement does not include China and India. The former is the largest carbon dioxide emitter today, while the latter will reach US emission levels in a few years.
“We recognize the scientific view that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed 2C,” a statement released by the Major Economies Forum, and an association of 16 nations including G8, G5 (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa), Australia, South Korea and Indonesia, plus the European Union, says. These states account for more than 80 percent of the world's emissions, so their stance on the issue has the potential to bring forth a massive change in the way people relate to the threats of global warming.
“I believe we've made some important strides forward as we move towards Copenhagen. I don't think I have to emphasize that climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. The science is clear and conclusive and the impacts can no longer be ignored,” US President Barack Obama stated after the meeting. The 35th G8 Summit was held between July 8th–10th in the Italian city of L'Aquila, in the Abruzzo region, which was devastated by the April 6th 6.3 moment-magnitude earthquake.