L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) — The Group of Eight industrialized economies and other nations were working Wednesday to commit to a goal of keeping the world's average temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in a bid to contain global warming.
The White House declined to comment on whether it would sign off on a statement referring to the temperature threshold. If the deal went through, it would mark a significant step forward since the G-8 has previously refused to adopt that temperature limit as a political goal.
Climate change experts say the 2 degree threshold, which has been embraced by the European Union and some developing countries, wouldn't eliminate the risk of runaway climate change but would minimize it. Even a slight increase in average temperatures will wreak havoc on farmers around the globe, as seasons shift, crops fail and storms and droughts ravage fields.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he wanted the G-8 as a whole "first of all to agree on the reference value of 2 degrees Celsius."
The G-8 summit opened Wednesday, with the leaders of the United States, Britain France, Italy, Germany and Japan discussing a host of issues, from climate change to North Korean nuclear nonproliferation.
They will be joined Thursday for a deeper discussion on climate change with the 17-member Major Economies Forum, which includes China, which has overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest polluter, and India, which is close behind. Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, South Korea and the European Union also are in that club of the world's major polluters.
The climate discussions at L'Aquila come ahead of a crucial December summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the United Nations aims to conclude a new, worldwide climate pact.
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel told ARD radio that the forum countries, which met Tuesday night, had said "'we accept the two-degree limit.'"
An official from the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said G-8 leaders had also confirmed a previous commitment to reduce long-term carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050, although they have found no agreement on nearer-term goals.
A panel of U.N. scientists has said industrial countries must together cut carbon emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 to keep average global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees above preindustrial levels 150 years ago. Any rise beyond that would increase the risks of catastrophic climactic changes affecting millions of predominantly poor people.
At their last summit in Japan a year ago, the G-8 committed to reducing carbon emissions 50 percent by 2050. But the vague statement did not specify which year it would take as a base line. U.N. scientists have used 1990 as the starting point, but the United States and Japan are using 2005 levels.
The difference is significant: Since 1990, U.S. emissions have risen 23 percent. Disagreement over which start date persists, G-8 delegation members said Wednesday.
The climate summit in Copenhagen aims to negotiate a new climate treaty to replace the 1987 Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. The aim is to set new limits on greenhouse gas emissions by industrial countries, determine how emerging economies can limit the growth of their own emissions, and to set up a system to give poorer countries the financing and technology they need to develop in a way that is less damaging to the environment.
Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill imposing the first U.S. limits on greenhouse gases, eventually leading to an 80 percent reduction by mid-century by putting a price on each ton of climate-altering pollution. The Senate is to discuss similar action, but compromises in the bill are expected.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to comment when asked whether President Barack Obama would support a statement limiting temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius. Instead, he stressed the administration's commitment to fighting climate change by pointing to the bill's passage by the House.
"Success for us is going to be getting something through Congress and to his desk that puts in place a system, market-based system, that lessens the amount of greenhouse gases in the air. That's going to be the true of measure of things," Gibbs said.
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