TOKYO, June 17 (UPI) -- A target to reduce greenhouse emissions by 2020 as sought by a U.N. panel is unlikely to figure at the Group of Eight summit in Japan next month.
"The G8 is not a venue to reach an agreement" on a medium-term carbon-capping target by developed and other countries, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told news agencies from the G8 nations Tuesday, Kyodo news reported.
Under the medium-term target, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recommended that, by 2020, developed countries as a group slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels. The recommendation is supported by European countries and environmentalists.
Fukuda, however, said he would seek to convince other G8 leaders to agree to Japan's proposal to halve global emissions by 2050, the report said.
"We would like to gain political outcomes that would promote the creation of an effective framework" in place of the Kyoto protocol which expires in 2012, he said.
Fukuda urged China, India and other emerging economies to join the next carbon-capping regime after Kyoto which involves only developed economies.
The G8 summit is scheduled for July 7-9 at the Lake Toya resort in Hokkaido. Attending will be leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
