G8 environment summit ends in no deal

UN environment programme executive director Achim Steiner said that significant gaps remain on targets for emission cuts and funding.

But he added that discussions at the meeting in the eastern Sicilian city of Siracusa were among the “most frank” he had seen and largely focused on sticking points “where fundamental differences remain to be overcome.”

Environment ministers from the G8, along with others from emerging economies and representatives from the EU and the UN met for three days in a medieval castle to talk about biodiversity and climate change.

The meeting was intended to lay some groundwork before a crucial UN conference in December in Copenhagen.

That gathering aims to replace the 1998 Kyoto Protocol and draft a new agreement to regulate carbon emissions. The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Despite some progress, Mr Steiner said, “I do leave Siracusa very much concerned that there is as yet no clear pathway to resolving the gaps that remain.”

He said that one positive sign is that realism, the recognition that time is running out, has set in and that there has been “less finger pointing and perhaps more reflection.

“The conversation is beginning to focus on how partnerships could help each side to deliver the very ambitious demands that the other side has.

“The time has passed for nations to wait for the other side to move first.”

He called for “intense conversations about how a partnership formula can allow an agreement in Copenhagen to emerge.”

On Thursday, Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency attending the talks, said that the US “now fully acknowledges the urgency and complexity of climate change challenges” and that a “meaningful US response to this challenge is absolutely essential.”

The group did reach an agreement on ways to slow down biodiversity loss.

The G8 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. China, India and Brazil were also represented.

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