The goal of halving the world's emissions of CO2 and other heat-trapping gases by mid-century is based on projections made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading international scientific authority on the subject.
The IPCC's key report laid out a scenario on how to prevent global warming from damaging all parts of the world.
What is important about this report is that it not only included reduction targets that must be carried out by 2050, but also explained when growth in global greenhouse gas emissions must be stopped.
To attain the goal for 2050, the world must slow emissions growth and reverse the trend by around 2020, according to the report. These two measures are inseparably linked goals.
The year 2050 will be in an age that belongs to our children and our grandchildren. But the current working population will be still active and play leading roles in society in 2020. That's why it is so important for the world to now commit to achieving a medium-term target.
What is troubling is the discord between the United States and fast-growing emerging countries over the question of sharing the burden in anti-warming efforts among industrial and developing nations.
It is now important to set clear global targets for emission reductions. The debate on how the burden should be shared between industrial and developing countries should come after the goal is established.
The framework for burden sharing should not be a fixed one. It is quite possible that some of today's developing countries will join the ranks of industrial nations in several decades.
The best possible way to distribute the burden should be figured out by taking such economic dynamics into account.
The debate at this year's G8 summit on global warming will be held with the upcoming departure of US President George W. Bush from the political scene in mind.
The discussions could fail to pick up steam this year because of expectations that the next US president will address the global warming issue more aggressively than Bush.
With the root cause of all the planet's woes becoming increasingly clear, however, this year offers a great opportunity for the G8 leaders to make a resolution to bring the Earth back from the brink of a downward spiral triggered by the world's addiction to fossil fuels.
We strongly hope the G8 leaders at the lakeside resort will issue a powerful declaration of their will to tackle this challenge head-on with specific and convincing numerical targets.
(China Daily July 2, 2008)
