Green groups slam “pathetic” G8 climate agreement

The leaders of the Group of Eight nations have agreed to work toward a target of halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. But campaigners said the goal was insufficient to offset potentially catastrophic climate change and criticised the lack of a commitment to mid-term targets.
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In a communique released during the summit in northern Japan, the G8 leaders agreed on Tuesday that they would need to set interim goals on the way to a "shared vision" for 2050, but they gave no numerical targets.

"The G8 are responsible for 62% of the carbon dioxide accumulated in the Earth’s atmosphere, which makes them the main culprit of climate change and the biggest part of the problem," Reuters quoted green group WWF as saying. "WWF finds it pathetic that they still duck their historic responsibility."

Daniel Mittler, political adviser for Greenpeace International, was quoted as saying: "This is the result of an oil man preventing the world from moving forward one last time, and the only good news is that this will be Bush’s last G8 summit."

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