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G8 leaders to set emissions goals G8 leaders to set emissions goals
(about 13 hours later)
Leaders of G8 nations are to set a target to cut greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050, the BBC understands. The G8 leaders are set this week to deliver their strongest statement so far on global warming.
They will also call for any human-induced temperature rise to be held below 2 degrees Celsius, says BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin. They are likely to agree that the world ought to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050 - with rich nations reducing them by 80%.
But environmental campaigners believe key commitments will be scaled back. The group will probably also say that any human-induced temperature rise should be held to 2C - a level considered to be a danger threshold.
News of the G8 plans came as ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair urged rich nations to hit short-term climate targets by ramping up existing clean technologies. The US has previously objected to such a clause.
They should also paying poor countries to protect their forests, Mr Blair said. But it looks as though the G8 will fall short of agreeing the short-term targets scientists say are essential to ensure that the 2C threshold is not breached.
However our correspondent said that environmental campaigners fear that the United States is blocking the short-term emissions targets which scientists say are needed for us to keep to that two degree mark. Environmental campaigners accuse the G8 of willing the ends on climate change but not willing the means.
"American officials have privately told BBC News they just can't cut emissions as fast as they know is required" he said. American officials have privately told BBC News they cannot cut emissions as fast as the science requires, because the issue is still too politically contentious in the US Congress.
'Sensible acceptance' I understand that the US is also delaying the G8 climate communique in the hope of obtaining more commitment from emerging nations on the issue.
This is now at the stage where it's been taken out of the hands of campaigners and into the hands of the people who are going to have to get the job done Tony Blair Technology potential
Mr Blair insisted that acting on climate change was "urgent" and that progress was being made in engaging governments of some of the world's largest economies. On Thursday, US President Barack Obama chairs a meeting of the G8 members with the leaders of the emerging economies, including India and China, under a process known as the Major Economies Forum (MEF).
There was "a general acceptance on the part of most sensible people that we have to deal with it," he said. That meeting will produce a declaration separate from the G8. Opinions among the emerging economies vary widely. India opposes commitments on cutting emissions. It has millions living in poverty and considers that the problem should be solved by rich nations. India is suspicious of signing up to the 2C warming threshold because it implicitly puts a cap on Indian growth.
"We have an American administration committed to tackling climate change. China is committed to achieving a low-carbon economy, but slowly so as to cause minimum social and economic upheaval.
"We have a Chinese administration that's no longer saying you guys have created the problem - you solve it, but has immersed itself in this challenge." "We have to persuade China that it is in China's interests to move quickly to a low-carbon economy - that will be be key," a western diplomatic source said.
But Mr Blair added that "practical policy making" was now needed if the fight against global warming was to be effective. Brazil is the most significant of the emerging nations to sign up to the 2C threshold. "This is extremely significant," said the source. "It is an acknowledgement from political leaders to their peoples that there are scientific limits to how far we can push the planet."
Technological solutions to climate change were "well within our grasp" he added, saying only political will was needed to implement them. FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME class="" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/default.stm">More from Today programme
"This is now at the stage where it's been taken out of the hands of campaigners and into the hands of the people who are going to have to get the job done," he told the BBC. The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Professor RK Pachauri, told BBC News: "I don't think we can hold out great hopes for the MEF - it is G8 that had to make the key decisions here on emissions cuts and on funding to help poorer countries to adapt to climate change and obtain clean energy supplies."
However campaigners have questioned whether politicians will get the job done, especially the global economic downturn. Recently, the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed that rich nations should put $100bn into a fund to help poor countries deal with climate change; but I understand the figures on the table so far at the G8 are very much lower than this.
'Universal acceptance' The former UK premier Tony Blair has urged the group's leaders to seize the moment, to tackle climate change with major emissions cuts by 2020.
Mr Blair's comments came in a report published ahead of Major Economies Forum, being held in Italy this week. He has been working on a private initiative with a business-oriented NGO called The Climate Group.
The document sets out seven policies to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over the short and long term. It has produced a new report which champions green technologies, arguing that they offer the chance of "substantial job creation and growth".
These include greater energy efficiency, an end to deforestation, using lower-carbon power sources and investing in technologies needed to reduce CO2 by between 50% and 85% by 2050. The report also says the technologies needed to meet emissions reduction goals set for 2020 are "already proven, available now and the policies needed to implement them known".
In December, Copenhagen will host a United Nations climate change summit. This means ramping up existing policies on energy efficiency, new appliance standards and renewable energy.
Mr Blair said, unlike previous events at Kyoto in 1997 and Gleneagles in 2005, there was now "almost universal" acceptance of the scientific evidence that climate change was a reality. Mr Blair told BBC News that significant emissions cuts could be achieved by halting deforestation and the degradation of forests; something that could be done if rich nations paid poor nations to protect their forests (though this seemingly simple policy is fraught with practical difficulties).
There was also a willingness from politicians to adopt ambitious CO2 reduction targets, if they were practical, he added. Copenhagen challenge
Despite the financial restrictions placed on governments by the global recession, the cost of inaction was "far greater" Mr Blair said. "I think it's very understandable at a time of major economic crisis that people are very daunted by the additional challenge of climate change," Mr Blair said.
'Clean' energy "I think the single most important thing we found is that almost three-quarters of what you want to do can come from existing and known technologies and actions. It has to be done. There is no option."
The report is published with the Climate Group - a charity which promotes how government, especially in cities, can move to low- carbon economies. Mr Blair said there had been a huge change in the attitude of world leaders to climate change: "In 2005, there was a lot of resistance when I put it on the G8 agenda. We were able to come out with some broad, general principles - it was a big step forwards.
It said technologies which enable this offered the chance of "substantial job creation and growth". "But in the intervening period, this has moved a long way. I think leaders are now focused on practical policy implications.
Rising oil price could make switching to low-carbon technologies a cheaper option, it added. "This is now at the stage where it's been taken out of the hands of campaigners (although they are still important) and into the hands of the people who are going to have to get the job done.
The report said the technologies needed to meet emission reduction goals set for 2020 were "already proven, available now and the policies needed to implement them known". "We have an American administration committed to tackling climate change. We have a Chinese administration that's no longer saying, 'you guys have created the problem - you solve it', but has immersed itself in this challenge.
Almost half the emission cuts could be reached by halting deforestation and the degradation of forests, the report said, something that would require developing nations to be given support from richer countries. "And you have a general acceptance on the part of most sensible people that we have to deal with it. I think you will see a significant move forward before Copenhagen." (The UN conference to seal a new global climate deal in December)
Other action called for included investment in alternative, "clean" energy sources such as wind and solar as well as carbon capture and storage, new generation nuclear plants and electric vehicles. Campaigners will welcome Mr Blair's intervention but may be sceptical about his confidence in the outcomes.
In his term of office the UK Treasury adopted a laissez-faire energy policy which has left the UK with one of the lowest shares of renewable energy in Europe, despite having one of the best potentials for renewable power.
I asked Mr Blair if he would have pursued a different energy policy with hindsight. He declined to comment.
A group of 22 leading climate scientists has written to G8 and MEF leaders calling for policies that would see global emissions peak by 2020, and shrink by at least 50% by 2050.
"Unless the burden of poverty in developing nations is alleviated by significant financial support for mitigation, adaptation, and the reduction of deforestation, the ability of developing countries to pursue sustainable development is likely to diminish, to the economic and environmental detriment of all," the scientists said.