Tuesday 8 July 2008

WWF is concerned at their lack of commitment to mid-term targets to control climate change and judges the goal to reduce global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by at least 50% by 2050 to be insufficient.

WWF urges the G8 to wake up to the threat of dangerous climate change and for governments to be far more ambitious in enforcing CO₂ emission reductions.

"Confirming the results of last year's summit is hardly a remarkable outcome", said the director of WWF's global climate initiative, Kim Carstensen.

"So little progress after a whole year of minister meetings and negotiations is not only a wasted opportunity, it falls dangerously short of what is needed to protect people and nature from climate change," he said.

Ducking responsibility

WWF believes that the science clearly outlines an urgent need to cut global emissions way more than 50% by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

To reach these targets, global emissions have to peak and decline in 10 to 15 years and rich nations must reduce emissions by 25% to 40% by 2020. These crucially important necessities are not reflected in the G8 communiqué.

"The G8 countries are responsible for 62% of the CO₂ accumulated in the Earth's atmosphere, which makes them the main culprit of climate change and the biggest part of the problem", added Carstensen.

"WWF finds it pathetic that they still duck their historic responsibility and refuse to turn from the main driver of the problem into the main driver of the solution," he stressed.

WWF said the summit confirmed a recent trend that industrialized countries show less rather than more of the leadership so urgently needed.

The Toyako summit has witnessed countries like Canada, Japan and the US emphasising their inability to act to reduce CO₂ emissions, while emerging economies have recently made concrete policy proposals, offering more domestic action in turn for decisive leadership by industrialized nations.

The G8 is an international forum for the governments of Canada, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the UK. The forum meets annually with ministers meeting throughout the year.