Tag: G8

Leaders of the Group of Eight want more stringent international rules on nuclear safety following the disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at Deauville yesterday (26 May).

Accountability often goes missing following G8 promises, writes Jeffrey D. Sachs, professor of economics and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and special adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals.

The G8's "historic" agreement to halve greenhouse gas emisisons by 2050 in L'Aquila, Italy this week was immediately condemned by green groups as "vague" and insufficient to halt global warming in the absence of a decisive mid-term target.

European Union finance ministers will on Tuesday (10 March) back a call from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to double its funds to $500 billion at the G20 finance ministers' meeting this week, a document showed.

G8 countries meeting in Hokkaido, Japan on 7-9 July should strive to bridge the gap that exists between them on proposals to tackle climate change, argues Nigel Purvis of Climate Advisers in a June 2008 policy paper for the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

While welcoming the US initiative as a step in the right direction, EU leaders stressed that any future deal must be agreed within the framework of the United Nations and accompanied by "binding, measurable and enforceable targets".

Commission President Barroso outlined the EU's objectives on energy-efficiency and climate change for the G8 Summit on 6-8 June and commented on increasingly tense relations with Russia after a chilly bilateral summit in May.

Tensions between Israel and its neighbours have sent crude oil prices above 78$ a barrel just one day ahead of a meeting of world leaders in Russia devoted to energy supply security.

Russia will use its time at the helm of the G8 group to present itself as the guarantor of energy safety worldwide. However recent events have cast a shadow of doubt over whether Moscow can play such a role.