As of: July 2009

G8 - the Group of Eight

Strength entails responsibility. It is the goal of the Group of Eight (G8) to assume this responsibility jointly. The group comprises the United States of America, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Canada and, since 1998, Russia. Since 1977 the EU Commission has also been sending its own delegation to the G8 meetings. The circle, which met for the first time as the G6 at Rambouillet castle in 1975, thus unites the heads of state and government of the seven leading industrialised nations and Russia. In terms of status, the G8 is not an international organisation with its own organs or a permanent secretariat. Originally it was a purely informal forum to discuss global economic and foreign policy issues in a small group. However, the days of simple fireside chats are long gone for the G8. Today G8 meetings take place all year round and at various levels, allowing the member states to coordinate joint positions on a number of policy issues. In addition to the summit of the heads of state and government the meetings of the ministers for all policy areas are a key component of cooperation within the G8 framework. Every year a different G8 member assumes the presidency.

G8 activities in environmental policy

The environment has long been an integral part of the G8 policy agenda. The focus has traditionally been on current issues such as climate protection, biodiversity, forest protection, marine protection and the fight against environmental crimes, but in particular on economically relevant topics. Following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 the G8 environment ministers started to hold their own meetings prior to the annual G8 Summits of the heads of state and government to discuss important environment policy aspects. A milestone in the G8's environmental policy was the initiative adopted in Genoa in 2001 and successfully implemented in the following years to make trade and environment a key topic for the WTO trade talks in Doha. Climate protection was made a priority area for the first time at a G8 Summit at the 2005 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. As a result the heads of state and government adopted a plan of action on climate change, clean energy and sustainable development. Moreover a continuous dialogue between the energy and environment ministers of the 20 major energy-consuming countries and the International Energy Agency was established at the meeting (the so-called Gleneagles Dialogue).

The Major Economies Meeting initiated by the US in 2007, which focuses on energy security and climate change, has proven to be an important meeting complementing the G8 process. It brings together representatives of the 16 major economies, which are also the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases worldwide (G8 countries, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, Indonesia and South Korea). The meeting of the Major Economies took place on 9 July 2009 within the framework of the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, and was concluded with a joint declaration on energy and climate (PDF-Document, 26 Kbyte).

The G8 Meeting of Environment Ministers under the Italian Presidency

As preparation for the G8 Summit, the G8 environment ministers met in Siracusa, Italy from 22 to 24 April 2009 on the invitation of the Italian environment minister Stefania Prestigiacomo. Representatives of civil society and international organisations were also invited. As in the Major Economies Forum, in addition to the G8 countries, Denmark, Czech Republic and Sweden as well as MEF delegations from newly industrialising countries were invited to the event. The German delegation was led by State Secretary Matthias Machnig. There were three topics on the agenda: combating climate change, conservation of biodiversity and the role of low-carbon technologies in climate protection. The meeting ended with a Chair's Summary, detailing the results of the discussions on the three topics:

Climate change

The G8 environment ministers agreed that the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009 must be used to adopt an ambitious new follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. The new regime must contain all the elements of the 2007 Bali Action Plan. In this context Germany in particular pointed out that such an agreement must address the key issues described in the Bali Action Plan. These include a long-term vision for the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, ambitious medium-term emission reduction targets, measures for adaptation to climate change, secure climate protection financing and technological cooperation with developing countries.

Biodiversity

The German initiative to put biodiversity on the agenda of the G8 environment ministers meeting was continued in Italy. At the meeting the environment ministers adopted the "Carta di Siracusa". In this document, ministers highlight the fact that biodiversity and ecosystems not only make a valuable contribution to securing quality of life, they also play an important role in strategies for emission avoidance and adaptation to climate change.

Low-carbon technologies

The G8 environment ministers discussed low-carbon technologies, which have an essential role in reducing global emissions and are vital for achieving a low-carbon society. Germany again reiterated that a large number of appropriate technologies are already available and that priority should now be given to their dissemination. Germany also drew attention to the special ecological and economic relevance of the increased use of renewable energies. The G8 environment ministers advocated using publicly funded economic stimulus packages for investments in environmental technologies, as a dual contribution to overcoming the economic crisis and protecting the climate.

Results of the 2009 G8 Summit

For the first time G8 and newly industrialising countries agree on 2-degree target

The G8 Summit took place from 8 to 10 July 2009 in L'Aquila, a city recently struck by an earthquake. This year's Summit focussed on the global economic and financial crisis, climate change and greater cooperation of industrialised countries with Africa and newly industrialising countries. On the second day of the G8 Summit the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) discussed new strategies for combating climate change. The Major Economies Forum comprises the world's 16 largest economies, i.e. the G8 countries, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, South Korea, Australia and Indonesia. MEF countries produce approx. 80 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Also participating were Denmark, as host of the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, and the Czech Republic and Sweden as the former and current holders of the EU Presidency.

The results in detail:

Climate protection

It is considered a great success that both the G8 countries and the major newly industrialising countries agreed to limit the average temperature increase to a maximum of 2 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era (so-called 2°C target).

It is also considered a success that the major newly industrialised countries for the first time recognised the 2°C target at the Major Economies Forum. The G8 partners acknowledged their frontrunner role in climate protection and agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent or more by 2050. With regard to this long-term goal for industrialised countries the G8 declaration defines "1990 or more recent years" as a base year, outlining, however, that efforts need to be comparable.

The G8 thus confirmed and strengthened the global long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2050. A base year has not yet been determined. At the Major Economies Forum agreement was reached with the newly industrialising countries to work together in order to define a global long-term goal for 2050 before the Copenhagen conference. At the Major Economies Forum, newly industrialising countries also declared their willingness to promptly undertake action to achieve a meaningful deviation from the "business-as-usual" emissions scenario. In doing so they are to be supported financially and technologically.

The concept of "peaking" (i.e. peak of global greenhouse gas emissions) was laid down in the G8 and the MEF declarations. A specific peak year was not yet defined. However, there was agreement that the peak should take place as early as possible.

The G8 declared their preparedness to contribute their "fair share" to financing global climate protection and advocated the development and implementation of an effective financing mechanism for a post-2012-regime. With the exception of the least developed countries all countries are to contribute to financing global climate protection according to criteria to be agreed.

The summit also agreed to support the further expansion of the carbon market. The goal is to link national and sub-national emissions trading schemes and to thus establish a global carbon market. Newly industrialising and developing countries are to be included into this process.

Biodiversity

The G8 reaffirmed their goal to significantly reduce the global loss of biodiversity by 2010. The heads of state and government also recognised the need to develop a "vision" for biodiversity conservation for the post-2010 period. The summit declaration also supports the Potsdam Initiative on Biodiversity adopted in Heiligendamm in 2007 and the TEEB project (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) geared towards identifying the economic value of biodiversity.