G8 Agrees to Cut Emissions 50%

The G8 leaders have resolved to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2050, something they’d only agreed to “seriously consider” before. But the US has resisted setting any interim goals, the BBC reports, leading environmentalists to deride the pact. The group will also try to convince some 200 other UN members to agree to the target, to address US concerns that climate efforts must be broad.

The group also pledged to raise annual aid levels by $50 billion by 2010, with $25 billion earmarked for Africa, to release excess food stocks to hungry nations, and to ensure biofuel policies are compatible with food security. Gordon Brown said the group had made “major progress,” though there appeared to be confusion about whether the 50% reduction pledge was meant to be from 1990 levels or 2000 levels—the latter being considerably easier to achieve. (More G8 summit stories.)