G8 Nations Agree to reduce Carbon Emissions

U.S. President Barack Obama said at the group of eight summit conference that the World leaders have agreed to work together greatly to reduce carbon emissions by 2050. Speaking after the major economies forum meeting at the conference in L'Aquila, Italy, Obama called climate change as one of the defining challenges of our time.

The G8 members which includes the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia and other countries agreed to a target of reducing their carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050 to try to keep the earth's atmosphere from warming by more than 2 degrees Celsius. Participants in the forum also agreed to work toward a harmony on greenhouse gas emissions. He further continues to say that, no particular nation was eminently responsible for the cause of global warming, so no nations could fight each other. Active participation by all countries is a mandatory for a better solution. Still to be developed are measurable, recordable and verifiable standards by which countries efforts to reduce their carbon effect could be reported.

Leaders also agreed to provide financial support for developing countries to help them meet their emission-reduction goals. And conference participants founded a global partnership to drive new clean-energy technologies, such as solar, smart grids and advanced vehicles. So that, we made a good start, said Obama. But progress will not be easy particularly because of the global recession. We can either shape our future or we can let events shape it for us, Obama said. Urging global cooperation, he affirm that the world is facing the choice of either shaping its own future or letting events shape it for us. We know that the problems we face are made by human beings. That means it’s within our capacity to solve them,” he said