Delegates from the United States, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia and South Africa gathered for a 'Major Emitters Meeting' in Paris on 17 and 18 April to discuss climate change.
"We achieved a consensus on the need for long-term and medium-term goals for reducing greenhouse-house gases," Jean-Pierre Jouyet, France's secretary of state for European affairs, told reporters after the meeting, the AFP reported. "But we have not got quantified targets at this stage and we regret this," he said.
Views diverged in particular between the EU and the US in terms of the level of GHG reduction commitments required to avert major climate change related calamities such as rising sea levels, desertification and extreme weather events.
At least €127 billion in annual investments would be required to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, according to a report presented by the South African delegation. The figures presented in the report inspired 'intense' discussions among delegates, according to press reports.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy also pointed to the threat of population displacements and violent conflicts caused by competition over dwindling resources, aggravated by crop failures related to global warming.
The 16 countries, which account for 80% of the world's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, announced they will hold further meetings in May and June, though no specific dates were announced.
A first meeting of the 16 nations was organised in September 2007 by US President George Bush, part of US efforts to garner support for a global climate change deal that focuses on clean technology uptake rather than binding GHG emission reductions.
The US is hoping to secure a global climate change deal as an alternative to UN-led negotiations, launched in Bali in December 2007, on a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. Washington never ratified the original Kyoto Protocol and remains opposed to any international GHG reduction deal without firm commitments from China, which in 2007 outpaced the US in terms of total GHG emissions.
The EU however supports the expansion of an international carbon market under the umbrella of a global commitment to reduce GHG emissions by 25% to 40% by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.
