It's good to see the US outside of the grouping with the developing world polluters including China, India and Brazil though the US remains at the top of the list on a per capita basis. China is at the top overall. After the "I don't care" years of Bush, this is progress. Building out the green energy business is going to take time though this industry could provide both jobs to grow the troubled economy and environmental benefit. The Guardian:
The Group of Eight industrialised economies, including America, today agreed for the first time that they must limit worldwide temperature rises to no more than 2C, but failed to reach agreement with developing nations on how that should be achieved – a disappointment to those expecting Barack Obama to break a decade long deadlock.
The G8, representing the richest nations, also agreed for the first time that it should collectively cut emissions by 80% by 2050, and that the world should be able to cut its emissions by 50% by the same date.
In a fudge designed to recognise the difficulties different rich countries will face in meeting this target, the agreed G8 communique released at the L'Aquila summit set a fuzzy baseline for their 80% cut "of 1990 or more later years". The communique also acknowledges baselines may vary but "efforts must be comparable".
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