GORDON BROWN yesterday hailed a “historic” agreement between the world’s major industrialised nations that they will not allow global temperatures to rise by more than 2°C and will cut their emissions of greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050.
Mr Brown said the deal, agreed at the summit of G8 nations in Italy, paved the way for a global agreement at the UN conference in Copenhagen this December to halve emissions by the middle of the century.
A communiqué released at the summit in L’Aquila also committed the G8 to continued efforts to restore global economic growth, and put off the application of an “exit strategy” – as sought by Germany – until recovery is assured.
Mr Brown said the G8 leaders recognised “warning signals” that the path out of recession was not yet secured, citing the recent rise in oil prices to $75 a barrel and uncertainty about future unemployment.
Welcoming the agreement on climate change – made possible by America’s change in stance since Barack Obama succeeded George Bush as President – Mr Brown said: “For the first time, the G8 has agreed what I believe are vital decisions that take us on the road to Copenhagen and change the way we look at energy policy in the future.
“We have agreed for the first time that average global temperatures must rise by no more than 2°C. That is a historic agreement.
“We have agreed as G8 that we want to cut our emissions by 80% by 2050, and we believe that this will allow the world to reduce its emissions by 50%.”
The Prime Minister hopes to secure agreement from emerging economies, including China and India, on the need to limit temperature rises to 2°C at a meeting today, but no deal is expected on specific emission cuts for non-G8 countries.
Mr Brown warned his fellow G8 leaders of the need to avoid “complacency'” over the prospect of an imminent end to the global recession.
Amid reports that the worst of the downturn may be over, Germany had been pushing for a move towards preparing “exit strategies” – reining in state spending and starting to repay the mountain of debt incurred during the crisis.
