G8 summit key to global efforts on climate change

THORNY ISSUES

Italy, which holds the current G8 presidency, wants the summit to agree that global greenhouse gas emissions should peak by 2020 and world temperature change should be limited to 2 Celsius degrees above pre-industrial levels.

According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a rise in temperatures of more than 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels would be dangerous for the delicate balance of Earth's climatic system.

The two targets have been accepted by the European Union, but not by G8's non-EU members - the United States, Russia, Canada and Japan.

Meanwhile, the leading economies are using different time frames when setting cap goals: some looking to 2012, 2020 or 2050. They are also basing emissions cuts on different baselines: some comparing to 1990 levels, others to 1997 levels or 2005 levels.

In the first round of the Bonn talks in early April, the United States said it was considering cutting its emissions by 14-17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, which means the US 2020 goal amounts to a merely 4 percent cut compared to 1990 levels.

On June 10, the Japanese government announced a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, which translates into an 8 percent cut from 1990 levels.

Australia set its emission target on 5-15 percent by 2020 compared to 2000 levels, while Canada plans to cut by 20 percent by 2020 on 2006 levels.