G8 agreements lack ingredients

The world’s richest nations have come to an agreement on climate change. But it’s flaky and lacks any real commitment, the Melbourne Times reports:

G8 leaders agreed to seek “substantial” cuts in global emissions and “seriously consider” cutting climate-changing gases by at least half by 2050, and invited “the major emerging economies to join us”.

This is largely because the US is afraid to commit to any cuts without the fast-developing economies, such as China and India, joining in. As the Canadian National Post says:

“For those who still don’t get Pelosi’s and Gore’s veiled message, Tony Blair made it perfectly plain why a Democratic U.S. president would not yield either: ‘Whoever U.S. president is in office, they will not agree to a climate-change deal which doesn’t have China part of it.’