EDITORIAL: G-8 and global warming

The challenge of stemming global warming requires a powerful, united response by the entire world. This year's Group of Eight (G-8) summit of major powers, due to start on Wednesday in L'Aquila, Italy, should mark an important step toward such a response.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December (COP15) is expected to produce an agreement on a new international framework for anti-warming efforts to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. But there are still deep disagreements on key issues between industrial nations and developing countries.

Developing countries say the rich nations that are mainly to blame for global warming should first cut their greenhouse gas emissions sharply. Industrial nations are calling on fast-growing developing countries to make serious efforts to cut their emissions.

The rift between the two camps needs to be closed swiftly.

At last year's Lake Toyako summit in Hokkaido, the G-8 leaders agreed on the need to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

To make developing countries more willing to contribute to the efforts, the leading powers are considering declaring in the G-8 statement their commitment to slash emissions by more than 80 percent by the middle of the century.

The G-8 countries are also considering having their joint statement mention a goal of limiting the rise of the Earth's temperature within 2 degrees above levels before the Industrial Revolution.

An agreement on this target would mean the leading nations share a scientific consensus on the danger point of global warming. That would be a significant step forward.

The 2-degree ceiling would make clear what kind of midterm and long-term targets industrial nations need to achieve by 2020 and 2050, respectively. It would also push forward negotiations on the post-Kyoto climate change treaty.

The focus of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) to take place alongside the G-8 summit will be on narrowing the differences between industrial nations and emerging countries like China and India.

With MEF nations responsible for about 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gases, the MEF debate will significantly affect negotiations on the new framework for fighting global warming.

The G-8 leaders need to first demonstrate a solid commitment to substantially reducing emissions and promise financial and technological assistance to developing and emerging countries. Then, they can use their agreements as leverage to persuade emerging countries to make their own efforts for emissions cuts at the MEF meeting.

Japan should show its willingness to make contributions in its areas of expertise, such as technological support for other countries' anti-warming and energy-saving efforts. Japan should attend these important gatherings with a determination to help narrow the gap between industrial and developing countries.

Important changes have occurred in the fight against global warming in the past year, and new tensions and expectations surround these conferences. The changes have been brought about by the global economic crisis and the advent of the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, who is eager to tackle the sticky environmental problems.

Obama has been pressing for steps toward a green economy to ride out the crisis. His idea is to simultaneously deal with both the economic and environmental challenges by building a low-carbon economy instead of using the recession as an excuse for putting the global warming issue on the back burner.

The summit in Italy offers a great opportunity to spread this new thinking around the world.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 7(IHT/Asahi: July 8,2009)