(Photo: AP Images / RIA Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service)Leaders of Group of Eight take shovels to plant trees commemorating the G8 summit prior to a group photo session in Toyako, northern Japan Tuesday, July 8, 2008. The leaders are, from left: U.S. President George W. Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President of the European Union Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.
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The eight richest nations pledged Tuesday to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.
It marked the first time Group of Eight member the United States, under the Bush administration, has publicly agreed to an explicit long-term carbon cut target. Bush along with other G-8 leaders vowed to “move toward a low-carbon society” by cutting carbon emissions, which is responsible for the warming of the planet, according to the New York Times.
"In order to address climate change, all major economies must be at the table, and that's what took place today," Bush said from Japan where the G-8 summit is being held, according to The Associated Press.
"We made clear, and the other nations agreed, that they must also participate in an ambitious goal," Bush said, "with an interim goal, with interim plans to enable the world to successfully address climate change. And we made significant progress toward a comprehensive approach."
In return, G-8 members agreed to Bush’s request that developing countries like China and India, which have not accepted mandatory emission caps, must also be included in climate change pacts.
Bush’s willingness to accept an international carbon cap declaration contrasts his previous image as uncooperative on the issue.
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U.K.-based Christian Aid had denounced the United States’ “blatant attempts to derail any meaningful international agreement on climate change” last year as environment ministers from around the world attended a U.N. conference in Bali on the climate issue.
“If European ministers are serious about tackling climate change, then the days when they can stand discreetly by while the United States shamelessly wrecks the negotiations by rejecting any mention of clear and binding targets for reductions in rich countries’ greenhouse gas emissions are numbered," Andrew Pendleton, senior climate change policy analyst for Christian Aid, had said.
Indonesia’s president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, had told the conference attendees that without the participation of the United States, any climate change agreement would not be effective.
In the end, after fierce negotiations, the United States agreed to a Bali climate pact that left out specific figures on emission cuts and a timetable.
Given the U.S.’s history on international climate change agreements, its cooperation on Tuesday was seen as praiseworthy progress. However, critics voiced disappointment that the declaration failed to set out specifics, including whether the 50 percent emission cut would be from current levels or that of 1990.
The Kyoto Protocol, an international climate agreement which the United States refused to accept, had called participating nations to cut emissions based on 1990 levels.
The G-8 climate change declaration is a run-up to U.N.-led discussions in Copenhagen, Denmark, next December to draft a new climate change accord.
