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Row brewing at g8 over climate change
20 June 1997
A major diplomatic row is brewing at the G8 meeting in Denver following the decision by the EU to adopt a 2005 target for reducing emissions of the gases that cause climate change. The statement by the EU Environment Council of 20 June, 1997, contains thinly veiled criticism of the United States' current position on climate change [1]. In a clear reference to the world's largest per capita emitter of carbon dioxide, the Council states that: "The Council regrets that not all industrialised countries have come forward with proposals for quantified targets or Common and Coordinated Policies and Measures (CCPMs), while some of these countries have outlined proposals for emissions trading as a mechanism for achieving such targets".
Dr Patrick Green, Climate Change Campaigner for Friends of the Earth International, said:
"There is now a clear split in the G8 over climate change with half of the member countries (those within the EU) supporting the need for early action. As hosts of the G8 and the forthcoming Earth Summit II in New York next week, the United States has a clear responsiblity to match the lead shown by the EU in combatting greenhouse gases."
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] The United States has so far failed to set targets for reducing climate change gases in the short term (either for 2005 or 2010) and has promoted the idea of emissions trading without including the notion of binding targets. The EU Council statement specifically identifies emissions trading as being "supplementary to domestic action and CCPMs...".The US has so far failed to take sufficient domestic action to comply with it's promises made at the Rio Summit in 1992 when it undertook to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide to 1990 levels by 2000.
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Last modified: Dec 2008
