Environmentalists slam G8's 50/50 deal on climate change

Environmentalist groups slammed Tuesday's Group of Eight (G8) agreement to at least halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, saying the deal was too little too late.

"The G8 have failed the world again. While the Artic is melting, the G8 are postponing action. Instead of climate protection, the world got nothing but flowery words. If this is a step forward, we will never prevent climate chaos in time," said Daniel Mittler, a climate expert at Greenpeace.

Oxfam International said that the G8's '50 by 50' climate goal left the world with a "50/50 chance of a climate meltdown."

The charity called Tuesday's announcement "another stalling tactic that does nothing to lower the risk faced by millions of poor people right now."

At their meeting in Japan, G8 leaders said they would "consider and adopt" the goal of achieving "at least 50 percent reduction global emissions by 2050."

The target would be brought into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will culminate in a meeting in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.

While US President George W. Bush was instrumental in getting the long-term deal, environmentalists singled him out as the main culprit in the G8's lack of progress over urgently needed mid-term targets.

"An oil man from Texas has again prevented the decisive action the world needs," Greenpeace's Mittler said.

"The only good news from this summit is that it is Bush's last," he added.

Ben Wikler of AVAAZ.org said he had no trust in Tuesday's deal.

"In the year 2050, Harper will be 91, Bush will be 104 and Fukuda will be 114. So we don't necessarily believe their commitments," Wikler said.

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