EU pledges to lead on climate change and development at G8

Le Monde reports that EU commission president José Manuel Barroso will announce a fund of €1bn today at the G8 summit in Japan to aid developing countries.

The money, to be made up from excess EU farm aid payments, was announced by EU agriculture and development chiefs last week.

The Guardian also says that the commission president has admitted that the EU and US might be ready to step up their pledges on cutting greenhouse gas emissions when they meet at the G8 summit in Japan today.

Climate change will be a major issue on the agenda of the eight industrialised nations meeting today, with Le Figaro also reporting that French president Nicolas Sarkozy wants to see Europe leading the way on environmental issues at the three-day summit.

Sarkozy, says the paper, will also urge for the transformation of the G8 into a G13, to include emerging economies.

However, Deutsche Welle says leaders will be unlikely to make a breakthrough on their agenda because of profound disagreements among the nations, notably on a successor to the Kyoto protocol.

El País also comments that a strong message on the food crisis is unlikely, given that the world’s major powers are suffering rising prices and a wave of immigration, meaning that none of them is in a position to take the lead on a solution.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reveals that a report to be released today by the UK government has found that 4m tonnes of food are wasted each year in the country, at a cost of “hundreds of pounds” per household.

And the IHT reports on the 20,000 police Japan has called out to guard against likely protests that will take place over the next few days.

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