Leaders To Cut Carbon Emissions 50% by 2050
By ROBERT WINNETT and DAVID BLAIR, The Daily Telegraph | July 9, 2008
RUSUTSU, Japan — The world's eight richest nations agreed on a landmark deal on climate change yesterday, promising to cut carbon emissions by "at least 50%" by 2050.
The communique on the "environment and climate change" agreed to by G-8 leaders during their summit on the Japanese island of Hokkaido marked a softening of American position. President Bush had always resisted committing America to reducing greenhouse gases on this scale.
Yet campaigners were unhappy with the deal's vague language. The G8 agreed to a "goal" of "achieving at least a 50% reduction of global emissions by 2050" — which does not amount to a binding target.
