G8 cool on global warming

Hopes of a meaningful deal to tackle global warming at a meeting of world leaders are being played down as global inflation and the credit crunch takes centre stage.

The members of the G8 - Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Canada and the US - are gathering in Toyako, northern Japan and their summit will be followed by a Major Economies Meeting which will also feature China, India and Brazil.

Soaring food and fuel prices, African poverty, the political instability in Zimbabwe and progress in dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme are also likely to be high on the agenda.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has been pushing for a new framework to tackle global warming beyond limits agreed under the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

But wide gaps among G8 members and between advanced and developing countries have raised doubts about the chances for progress beyond last year's summit in Germany, where leaders agreed to "seriously consider" a global goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Activists and the European Union want the G8 to agree to the 2050 goal, but US President George W. Bush insists Washington will only set targets if big emerging economies such as China are on board as well.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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