home > by publication type > daily analysis > G8 Summit’s Prechilled Climate
Email
| Prepared by: | Lionel Beehner |
|---|
A UNICEF banner protesting the G8 Summit reads 'G8: You already promised a lot.' (AP Images/Fritz Reiss)
Personalities and policy disputes dominate coverage of the annual Group of Eight (G8) meeting, which opened June 6 in Germany. Analysts will be especially watchful of the personal dynamics between newcomers like France’s Nicolas Sarkozy and Japan’s Shinzo Abe and outgoing leaders like President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Also in the room this year will be representatives from China, India, and Brazil—stretching the notion for some that the group represents the world’s most industrialized democracies. And the usual antiglobalization cohorts will chant slogans within earshot of the summiteers.
Putin has already roiled the waters. He threatened to retarget select European cities with nuclear weapons (AP) if plans for deployment of a U.S. missile defense system go ahead and warned of a “new arms race.” President Bush, speaking in the Czech Republic, retorted that Russian “reforms that once promised to empower citizens have been derailed,” though he dismissed Putin’s assertions that Russia and the west were reentering a Cold War (FT). Russia’s “sharp decline” in standing and reputation with the West forms the backdrop to this year’s G8 meeting, says CFR Senior Fellow Stephen Sestanovich. Beyond missile defense, another sticking point is Kosovo, whose independence Russia opposes because of its close ties (Reuters) to Serbia. An IHT analysis examines the pre-summit rhetoric and argues that for want of other areas of agreement, U.S. and Russian officials may focus attentions on one common interest: Slowing Iran’s efforts to produce nuclear fuel.
Yet the most controversial topic may prove to be climate change, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the G8’s host (Deutsche Welle), has put atop the agenda, and which British Prime Minister Tony Blair views as something of a legacy issue. But Europe and the United States do not yet see eye-to-eye on greenhouse gas emissions (NYT). President Bush laid out a proposed new approach to climate change Friday at the tail end of a speech on development aid.
Merkel wants specific benchmarks set, which include G8 members cutting greenhouse gas emissions to half of their 1990 levels by 2050 and limiting temperature rises this century to two degrees Celsius. Because the United States accounts for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse emissions, “Merkel argues, we Americans really have a moral obligation to take the lead on this,” William Drozdiak of the American Council on Germany tells CFR.org’s Bernard Gwertzman. Bush gave a lukewarm response to the proposal but offered an alternative plan that calls for new technologies to curb greenhouse emissions as well as “joint action” with non-G8 polluters like India and China, which will soon surpass the United States as the world’s worst polluter (Der Spiegel). Experts remain doubtful any major breakthroughs on this front will emerge.
There are some positive signs ahead of this year’s summit. Bush’s naming of European favorite Robert Zoellick as head of the World Bank has helped defuse transatlantic tensions, as has his call to double U.S. aid to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. Finally, Bush’s push for tougher sanctions against the Sudanese government may spur a more united stance among G8 members on the Darfur issue, but, as Julianne Smith of CSIS warns, “I don’t think Darfur will play prominently in the G8 whatsoever.”
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
Global Economy in Crisis
Expert Conversations on World Events
In The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the Bush administration’s struggle to balance security and openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report lays out a thoughtful agenda for U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, arguing that what happens there should matter to the United States--for humanitarian reasons as well as economic and strategic ones.
In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
This report argues that the United States must lead with domestic action on climate change and proposes a U.S. negotiating strategy for a global UN climate agreement that includes commitments from all major economies, while also promoting a less formal Partnership for Climate Cooperation that would focus the world's largest emitters on implementing aggressive emissions reductions.
This Task Force report examines changes in Latin America and in U.S. influence there, while taking account of the region's enduring importance to the United States. The Task Force offers an agenda for U.S. policy toward Latin America and identifies four critical areas that should provide the basis of a new U.S. approach.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR.
“ The Logic of Zero:” Ivo Daalder and Jan Lodal say Washington must lead the way to a world without nuclear weapons. The first step will be dramatically limiting the U.S. nuclear arsenal's declared size and purpose.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1-212-434-9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
To request permission to reuse Council materials, please email publications@cfr.org or fax +1.212.434.9859.
Please include the complete information of the requested work—author, title, sections/pages to be copied or reprinted, and number of copies to be made—along with a brief description of where and how you would like to reuse the work.
You may also request permission for Council material through Copyright Clearance Center. For more information, please click on the link below.
Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.
