Leaked G8 climate graft sets no specific targets

LONDON - A leaked draft communique on climate change for July's Group of Eight industrial nations summit contains no specific targets and is silent on the science of global warming - to the dismay of environmentalists.

Pressure group Friends of the Earth immediately condemned the document as a huge missed opportunity.

"I find it really alarming. The issues they are covering suggest that they have got their heads around what needs to be done but they are just being really very, very poor on taking strong action," said climate change expert Katherine Pearce.

The 15-page draft, seen by Reuters and dated May 3, begins by stressing the need for urgent action on everything from developing new technologies, cleaner engines, energy efficiency and insulating buildings to capturing greenhouse gases.

But there are no targets for cutting the emission of climate-warming gases like carbon dioxide and a section on the scientific basis for climate change - strongly disputed by the United States - is left blank.

"This is obviously due to the US blocking this because it is something they can't agree on," Pearce said.

A Department of the Environment spokesman declined to comment on the leaked draft, due to be formally adopted at the G8 summit in Scotland from July 6-8.

"We are obviously aware of this document. We don't comment on leaked documents. But things have progressed considerably since May 3," he said.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has pledged to put the fight against climate change at the heart of Britain's year-long presidency of the group, set out on Friday on the first of a series of visits to fellow G8 leaders in a bid to get movement.

Scientists have warned that the planet could warm by at least two degrees centigrade this century, bringing with it more gales and floods and rising sea levels, threatening coastal communities and disrupting food supplies.

Most also agree that the change is already happening, is due in part to human activities like burning coal and oil, and will continue for some time whatever is done now.

The draft communique underscores the scale of the problem.

"If we miss this opportunity and fail to give a clear sense of direction, then we will be locked into an unsustainable future that will threaten our long-term security and prosperity," it says.

But the United States, questioning the scientific basis for global warming, refuses to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol that finally came into force in February aimed cutting CO2 emissions.

The document calls for more research and development and the promotion of clean technologies, shared information between rich and poor nations and more renewable energy sources.

It urges institutions like the World Bank and export credit agencies to include energy efficiency among the criteria they use for approving development projects.

- REUTERS