President Barack Obama proclaimed a new day for U.S. policy on climate change early Thursday, declaring, "In the past, the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities. So let me be clear: Those days are over."
But by day's end, world leaders wrapped up climate talks at a familiar impasse.
Leaders of the Group of Eight nations declined prompt action to curb greenhouse gas emissions in favor of the high-sounding goal of reducing their own emissions by 80 percent and worldwide emissions by 50 percent by 2050 -- without pledging to take any specific steps to get there. China, India and other major developing countries, who had wanted action in the next decade, reacted by rejecting the G-8 package.
And a side meeting that Obama convened Thursday to bring together the developing and developed nations most responsible for greenhouse emissions ended with only general pronouncements.
The discussions yielded a consensus declaration that the world should try to limit warming to 3.6 degrees, a level scientists say would minimize the dangers of the most catastrophic warming effects.
The United States and seven other of the world's top economic powers agreed Wednesday to broad goals for reducing global warming, but hedged on timetable details and expected to fail to get developing nations such as China and India to go along.
The Group of Eight industrial democracies agreed to a statement setting the goal of holding global warming to an increase of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2020, as measured since the dawn of the industrial age in 1900.
They also reaffirmed a pledge to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that cause warming -- by 50% worldwide and by 80% among industrialized nations -- by 2050. They hedged, however, on when to set the starting point to measure those cuts, saying they would measure from 1990 "or later years."
And they didn't adopt anything committing to specific emission cuts by 2020, a top goal of environmentalists.
Moreover, they acknowledged that their draft declaration for a larger meeting today, when China, India and other developing nations join, will not include targets for emissions cuts.
Progress toward treaty
Aides to President Barack Obama said the G8 agreements marked important progress toward the broad target of an international treaty to cut emissions.
Michael Froman, the White House deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, said the leaders "pledged to confront the challenges of climate change."
Environmentalists called it a disappointment that fell short of what's needed.
"This was a missed opportunity," said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The G8 countries are not putting a credible target on the table."
Scientists said the 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit limit -- which global warming already is near to hitting -- is critical, and that any additional warming beyond that would have grave consequences.
"The need for urgent action to address climate change is now indisputable," said a joint statement from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, along with counterpart agencies from around the world.
The NAS also urged that the international community commit to cutting the emissions of heat-trapping gases by 50% from 1990 levels by the year 2050.
The G8 agreed a year ago to set a target of a 50% cut by 2050, but it didn't stipulate whether the cut would be measured from 1990 or from the much higher levels in 2005. The leaders hedged again Wednesday, saying the nonbinding cuts would be measured against "1990 or later years," Froman said.
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