Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would propose at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany next month a goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by half by 2050, Japanese media reported Thursday. Abe unveiled the initiative, called Cool Earth 50, to lure "all major emitters," including the United States, China and India, to join the post-Kyoto Protocol framework, REPORTED DPA. "I propose setting a long-term target of cutting global emissions by half from the current level by 2050 as a common goal for the entire world," Abe said Thursday evening at a banquet for a conference with Asian politicians and business leaders. Fighting global warming was expected to be a main pillar at the G8 summit of seven of the world's leading economies and Russia that is to open June 6 in Heiligendamm and the 2008 G8 summit, which Japan is to host. The Japanese premier also unveiled a financial aid programme to be offered to developing nations that express ambitions to join the fight against global warming by balancing their development with the fight against climate change. In the initiative, Abe encouraged the development of innovative technologies and the establishment of a low carbon society to meet his goal. The Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997, requires industrial countries, including Japan, to cut their greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, by an average of 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012. Meeting the target requires cooperation that has been lacking from major emitters, such as the United States, China and India, critics said. Abe, however, has already reached an agreement with US President George W Bush to join Japan's initiative, sources said, while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao agreed on his visit to Japan in April to work with Japan to create an effective post-Kyoto framework from 2013.
