Europe wants to halve global CO2 emissions

ROME, July 7 (UPI) -- European leaders will try to convince emerging economies like India and China at this week's Group of Eight summit in Italy to commit to halving the world's greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said such a target would be discussed on the second day of the G8 summit during a meeting of representatives from the world's 17 major economies. Chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama, the countries of the so-called Major Economies Forum account for roughly 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

"The slogan is minus 50 in 2050: If we agree this with China, India, (South) Korea and the African and Latin American countries, it will be an extremely ambitious goal," Frattini told Italy's Il Messaggero newspaper.

British Premier Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy after a meeting in the French city of Evian also called on developing nations to commit to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 percent compared with 1990 levels.

The G8 leaders had signed up for such goal at last year's summit in Japan but were not able to convince major developing nations to do so as well. China, India and Brazil, which were invited to Japan, said it was up to developed nations to first commit to binding short-term targets.

While European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso echoed calls for halving greenhouse gas emissions, he added that developed nations, including the United States and the European economies, should boost their own commitments to show leadership.

"Developed countries must reduce emissions by at least 80 percent in the same period and underpin these efforts through robust and comparable mid-term reductions," he said.

Thursday's Major Economies Forum is aimed at advancing talks over a global climate protection deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012. Politicians are working for such a treaty to be signed at a climate summit in December in Copenhagen, Denmark. Observers hope that America's newfound commitment to climate protection will fuel diplomacy in Italy; it should be noted, however, that Europe still trumps Washington when it comes to reductions targets. Barroso wants Washington to commit to cap the temperature increase at 2 degrees C, a ceiling experts say is vital to prevent the most devastating effects of climate change.

This year's G8 summit will take place from Wednesday until Friday in L'Aquila, the Italian city devastated by a series of earthquakes earlier this year.