EU President Barroso on G8 Agreement on Climate Change

At this week's G8 Summit, the leading industrialized nations committed themselves to achieving dramatic cuts in the levels of CO2 emissions. They also agreed to "consider seriously the decisions made by the European Union, Canada and Japan which include at least a halving of global emissions by 2050." G8 leaders acknowledged that the UN climate process is the appropriate forum for negotiating future global action on climate change. The larger emerging economies are also to be incorporated in the process.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said, "It is no longer [a question of] if we should act, but by when and how? And even on those points we have increasingly clear answers: in 2009, under a UN process, and with substantial cuts. The EU already has ambitious greenhouse gas emission targets. We will now get a wider UN target to step up action when the first commitment period of the Kyoto comes to an end, because the science, the public opinion, and support from business will get us there."

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