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Leaders
of Major Industrial Nations Clash over Climate Change |
Posted:
06.06.07
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Amid a growing call to address global climate change, the leaders
of the major industrial nations are set to debate some of the
most ambitious climate change proposals at an international meeting
since the mid-1990s.
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The conversations will come this week in Heiligendamm, Germany,
during the annual Group of Eight (G8) Summit, a gathering of the
world's largest economic powers.
 The
host country, Germany, has proposed that the participating countries
adopt a plan to "stabilize" global temperatures, keeping
them from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Most scientists predict that if global temperatures rise more
than this amount, changes to the climate could be catastrophic.
After six years of refusing to agree on a global framework for
addressing global warming, President Bush issued his own plan
for high-level talks on climate change among the world's 15 biggest
emitters of greenhouse gases.
Greenhouse gasses, like carbon dioxide and methane, are components
of the atmosphere that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute
to the process of global warming.
China, though not a member of the G8, will attend the summit
and has recently released its first national plan to address climate
change. Currently, China is the world's second biggest emitter
of greenhouse gases, but it will likely become the biggest within
a few years.
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The G8 and
climate change |
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Members of the G8 are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Combined, these
nations represent about two-thirds of the world's economy.
 Germany's
decision to focus on climate change at the G8 this year comes
only months after an international panel of scientists convened
by the United Nations published a report saying that it was "very
likely" (more than 90 percent probable) that rising global
temperatures are linked to human activity such as the burning
of fossil fuels.
The topic is also taking on additional importance as the last
major international treaty aimed at reducing emissions, the Kyoto
Protocol, is set to expire.
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The Kyoto
Protocol |
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Countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol committed to reducing
their greenhouse gas emissions to levels at least 5 percent below
1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. The agreement was signed in
1997 but did not go into effect until 2005.
 One
hundred sixty-nine nations ultimately ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
The United States, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases,
did not.
In 2001, President Bush said that he would not sign the agreement
because it exempted some of the world's largest nations and biggest
polluters, China and India, from reducing their emissions.
Under the agreement, China and India were exempted because they
were developing economically and facing challenges cutting emissions
while trying to expand their industries. The Bush administration
argued that the two countries would have an unfair economic advantage
if they weren't required to reduce their emissions.
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A new international
framework |
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President Bush's recent proposal would bring both India and China
to the negotiating table, starting this fall. Each of the 15 countries
included in the talks -- which produce 85 percent of world greenhouse
gases -- would be responsible for coming up with its own plan
to reduce emissions between 2012 and 2030.
 Germany's
Chancellor Angela Merkel initially welcomed Mr. Bush's push for
talks on climate change, calling it an "important step forward."
But she also cautioned that the talks should not replace United
Nations negotiations and will continue to advocate for a stabilization
of global temperatures.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations' secretary-general, called the
White House proposal, "a positive statement, in the sense
that the United States, at the level of President Bush, has realized
the urgency and importance of climate change," the New York
Times reported.
Ban Ki-moon has plans to renew talks on climate change within
the United Nations this fall. The White House has already given
assurances that the president's talks would "feed into"
this discussion, the Financial Times reported.
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China's role |
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China, in the meantime, has said that it is against mandatory
caps on emissions and rejects Germany's goal of stabilizing world
temperatures, saying they both run counter to its development
goals.
 Yet
Ma Kai, chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission,
the country's top economic planning body, said that the nation
is "ready to work with the rest of the world community to
reduce the effects of global warming," Bloomberg News reported.
China's recently released plan addressing climate change would
focus on increasing energy efficiency and work to cut its greenhouse
gas output, by adopting hydropower, nuclear energy and biomass
fuels.
--Compiled
by Noah Buhayar for NewsHour Extra
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