Germany showing "extraordinary leadership" on climate change
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 02:13
Climate change will be part of the G8's agenda
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Germany is showing "extraordinary leadership" in the fight against climate change, US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi told Angela Merkel on Tuesday.
Mrs Pelosi said she would try to convince the Democrat-controlled US Congress to forge a multi-lateral deal to slow the effects of global warming.
But Washington is reportedly in "fundamental opposition" to "common" targets on climate change, according to leaked documents
US president George Bush's climate advisor James Connaughton, also visiting Germany, said the US was skeptical that the G8 would agree on such goals at next week's summit in Heiligendamm, as several states remained unwilling to adopt the EU's goal of limiting warming to two degrees compared to the pre-industrial times.
Separately, foreign ministers from Asia and Europe disagreed in Hamburg on how to respond to climate change, with China claiming itself and the EU had "common but differing responsibilities".
Speaking at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said both parties had reached an impasse on binding restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions after 2012 when the Kyoto protocol expires.
He told journalists that both the EU and Asian nations agreed to a follow-up "regime" post-Kyoto, with negotiations completed by 2009 "at the latest".
China said cuts to emissions should come from the industrialised nations, with emergent nations allowed to pollute more in the short term as their economies improve.
Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi said: "We believe that in fighting climate change we should have a common goal but differentiated responsibilities."
Japan and European countries have called for fundamental cuts in global greenhouse gases, with Tokyo affirming 50 per cent cuts by 2050 and the EU 40 per cent or more if non-signatories to the Kyoto protocol – the US, China and India – come on board.
The G8 is comprised of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.
