G8 Agrees to 'Seriously Consider' 50% Reduction

G8 summit in Germany promises to address emissions cuts.

By Sophie Goldstein, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 7, 2007 1:22 PM CDT

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G8 Agrees to 'Seriously Consider' 50% Reduction — 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... (Associated Press)

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." (More global warming stories.)

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