G8 climate deal unlikely, says Merkel

German chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed doubts over a climate change deal at the upcoming G8 summit.

"I can say quite openly that today I don't know if we will succeed in that at [G8 summit venue] Heiligendamm," Merkel said in a speech to the German parliament on 24 May.

Berlin, Paris, London, Rome and Brussels are calling for a G8 commitment to limit global warming to a rise of 2 degrees this century, and cut greenhouse gas emissions to half of 1990 levels by 2050.

But the US, which pulled out of the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gases in 2001 and is the word's biggest polluter, is unwilling to commit to targets unless they include the developing economies such as China, India and Brazil.

"It is clear that the big developed nations must take the lead on this issue… we must significantly and quickly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to limit the earth warming”, Merkel said.

Other topics on the table at the 7-8 June summit include setting up a €10bn fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, and a German plan to set up new rules aimed at increasing the transparency in the €1.2 trillion global hedge fund industry.

• Previous article
• Next article