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G8 Agrees to 'Seriously Consider' 50% Reduction

G8 summit in Germany promises to address emissions cuts.

By Sophie Goldstein,  Newser User

Posted Jun 7, 2007 1:22 PM CDT

(Newser) – G8 leaders agreed to a climate-control deal today they hailed as a breakthrough, though it was unclear what it actually accomplished. They didn't adopt German Chancellor Angela Merkel's target of cutting emissions in half by 2050—already adopted by the EU, Canada and Japan—but they agreed to  "seriously consider" it. 

President Bush also yielded to an agreement that a successor treaty to the Kyoto accord could be negotiated through the UN, rather than a newly created group. That was enough to make British PM Tony Blair describe the result as a "major, major step forward."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, gestures as she turns around next to U.S. President George Bush during the second workig meeting at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Thursday June 7, 2007. The leaders of the G8 nations are holding their annual summit in the historic Heiligendamm sea resort...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, gestures as she turns around next to U.S. President George Bush during the second workig meeting at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Thursday June 7, 2007....   (Associated Press)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, gestures as she turns around next to U.S. President George Bush during the second workig meeting at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Thursday June 7, 2007. The leaders of the G8 nations are holding their annual summit in the historic Heiligendamm sea resort...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, gestures as she turns around next to U.S. President George Bush during the second workig meeting at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Thursday June 7, 2007....   (Associated Press)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President George W. Bush (obscured), British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (obscured), Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Vladimir Putin (clockwise from L)...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President George W. Bush (obscured), British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Japanese...   (Associated Press)
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