Major nations have failed to agree to set a goal to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a draft document – a setback to efforts to secure a new UN climate pact.
Negotiations involving senior officials from the 17-nation Major Economies Forum (MEF) broke down after China and India opposed any mention of the target, said a source familiar with negotiations.
They first want to see rich nations commit to making deep cuts in their own emissions by 2020 and they want developed nations to work out plans to provide developing nations with short-term finance to help them cope with ever more floods, heatwaves, storms and rising sea levels, said the source.
The removal of a reference in the MEF draft to halving emissions by 2050 is a blow to efforts to secure a new UN climate pact in December. MEF nations account for 80 per cent of world greenhouse gas emissions, largely caused by burning fossil fuels.
Last year the G8 outlined a "vision" of halving emissions by 2050, without setting a base year.
Major developing countries did not sign up for a 2050 goal, arguing the rich first had to set deep cuts in their own national emissions by 2020.
A draft G8 statement showed that the group agreed that the rise on global temperatures should not exceed two degrees Celsius.
That would mark a breakthrough by EU states to convince the United States, Japan, Russia and Canada that a two degrees limit is the necessary threshold beyond which climate change will reach danger levels.
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