But you will admit that the agreement is vague, weak and inadequate. I would like us to understand that this summit in Germany does not bode well for the conference in Bali that is to be held in December.
A few months ago, I was in Nairobi. The negotiations were looking ahead to Kyoto 2 and people wanted an agreement as soon as possible. The G8 is an important part of the upcoming conference in Bali. The communiqué tells us that members of the G8 will consider seriously the decisions made by the European Union, Canada and Japan to reduce global emissions by half by 2050. There is no commitment. Does that mean that the conference in Bali will set no medium-term target for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, but that the decisions, the discussions and the negotiations in Bali will focus on long-term objectives, likely 2050, still with no commitment? Does the recent G8 summit not put into jeopardy an international agreement to set a target, as Europe proposed, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% or 30% by 2020—depending on the number of countries that decide to sign on? The Bali conference will fail because it will not address reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the medium term, but will talk only about 2050. Who knows, maybe people will come home from Bali without even a long-term target for greenhouse gas reduction.