G-8 to ask India, China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Group of eight leaders will ask major emerging economies like India and China to adopt actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "in an indicative range below business as usual," Japanese media reported today.

The G-8 leaders meeting from July 8-10 in L'Aquila, Italy, will urge major emerging economies such as China and India to adopt actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "in an indicative range below business as usual," where countries employ few measures to cut emissions, by a specified year, says the draft declaration, a copy of which was obtained by Kyodo News.

The leaders from the eight industralised nations will also agree to launch a public-private green technology fund for developing nations as part of efforts to curb global warming, according to the draft of declaration, it said.

"We reconfirm our strong commitment to the UNFCCC (U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change) negotiations and to the successful conclusion of a global, wide-ranging and ambitious post-2012 agreement in Copenhagen, involving all countries, developed, emerging and developing, consistently with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities," the draft says.

The draft says the G-8 leaders will urge "all major economies" to share the goal of halving emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by 2050, repeating similar language to that used in the G-8 leaders' statement issued at last year's summit in Hokkaido, Japan.