World leaders were Friday discussing a new compromise climate change text that would commit them to a joint target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050 in a bid to keep global warming within 2 degrees centigrade, according to dpa. The draft, seen by the German Press Agency dpa, reiterates previous calls for rich nations to commit 30 billion dollars in immediate aid to poor nations and a further 100 billion a year by 2020. Medium-term emission reduction targets for the United States and the European Union are unspecified. Emission reduction targets of China and other major developing economies are to be subjected to "domestic measurement, reporting and verification." The accord would be subjected to a "review" in 2016 that would consider "strengthening the long-term goal to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees," as requested by low-lying island states.
