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TOKYO: The Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations will jointly
invest more than $10 billion a year on research and development of
technology to combat global warming, a report said Sunday.
The plan, including research on underground
storage of carbon dioxides, is included in a draft joint statement
on economic policy to be adopted at the G8 summit scheduled on July
7 to 9 in Japan, the business daily Nikkei said.
Climate change will dominate the summit, which
will bring together leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States to the northern Japan
lakeside resort of Toyako.
Nikkei said it had obtained the outline of the
draft statement.
According to the draft, the G8 leaders will also
seek an agreement on setting country-by-country goals for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions over the medium term from 2013, the daily
said.
They will also express their determination to
avert a global economic crisis through coordinated efforts to deal
with the impact of soaring oil and food prices, it added.
On July 9, the Major Economies Meeting on Energy
Security and Climate Change, a 16-nation forum including China and
India, will be held on the sidelines of the G8 summit and issue a
separate statement, the daily said.
The draft of the G8 economic statement points to
the importance of imposing a long-term goal for cutting global
emissions.
But, because Japan and Europe differ with the
United States over long-term numerical targets, a final decision on
the question may be left to the G8 leaders when they meet at Toyako,
the daily said.
Japan and Europe want gas emissions to be halved
around the world by 2050, while the United States is cautious about
establishing such an ambitious goal, it added.
Nikkei said that the joint statement will
clearly state the commitment of the G8 nations to setting
quantitative goals in the future although it is unlikely to contain
specific figures.
-- AFP
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