British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett called on Japan’s government and the country’s business leaders to increase cooperation with the U.K. on reducing global warming to combat climate change.

Negotiations to reduce carbon emissions, a key item on the G-8 agenda at next month’s summit in Germany, have reached a crucial stage and Japan and the U.K. should push for a conclusion, Beckett said today in a speech to the Japanese Business Federation in Tokyo.

“Japan and the U.K. can together take the lead in the transition to a low carbon, low energy efficient economy,” Beckett said. “In doing that, we will not only help the world to overcome the climate threat, it’s also the only way for us to remain competitive.

Japan hasn’t followed the U.K. and European Union in setting specific targets to reduce carbon emissions after the Kyoto Protocol agreement expires in 2012. Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Aso said today the focus should be on building an international agreement that includes large greenhouse gas emitters including the U.S., China and India.

“Opinions are divided on whether to include numerical targets in an agreement,” Aso said at a regular press conference in Tokyo. “We must create a framework that includes the U.S., India, China and other developing nations which are not members of the Kyoto Protocol now.” http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aqANys5r0omg&refer=japan

Mit dieser Haltung unterstützt Japan die bekannte und parteiübergreifende Position der USA:

President George W. Bush has said it is possible that Group of Eight leaders next month will be able to reach agreement on some basic principles on how to confront global climate change.

But Bush, in an interview with Reuters, said he doubted there could be an effective approach to dealing with climate change globally without the participation of major polluters China and India.

The leaders of the United States, Britain, Russia, Canada, Japan and Italy meet on June 6-8 in the Baltic resort town of Heligendamm, Germany, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has put climate change high on the agenda.

Asked if he expected an agreement to come out of the summit, Bush said: “Too early to tell right now. I would hope so. I hope we can reach an agreement on some basic principles ... I think we can reach agreement on principles.”

He said he wanted to work with the Europeans, Chinese and Indians to come up with a way forward that reduces greenhouse gasses blamed for global warming without endangering economic growth and promotes environmentally conscious technologies.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10441089

Allerdings sind weder China noch Indien oder Brasilien gegenwärtig bereit, ihre CO2 Emissionen zu begrenzen, da sie dadurch schwere wirtschaftliche Schäden befürchten:

RICH nations must do more to fight global warming and allow poorer countries to pursue sustainable economic development, one of China’s top diplomats said in comments published today.

China is willing to play its role in tackling climate change but the onus rests on the developed world to tackle the problem, State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan told a visiting United Nations envoy on global warming yesterday.

“Tang demanded that developed nations take a lead on greenhouse gas emission reduction and provide assistance to developing countries in terms of technology transfer and capital,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Developing countries, such as China, should in the meantime be allowed to pursue “sustainable development,” Tang told envoy Han Seung-soo. Xinhua reported that Tang was making his comments in the context of rising international pressure on China, which is the second biggest emitter of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, to do more to fight global warming. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21775141-30417,00.html

Ganz ähnliches hört man auch von brasilianischer Seite:

The administration of [Brazilian] President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is refusing to commit to specific emission reduction targets, which so far are compulsory for only 35 industrialised countries. Brazil first wants to consolidate the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility” mentioned in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sets legally binding targets only on industrialised countries, which bear the greater responsibility for the greenhouse gases that have accumulated in the atmosphere. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37827

Ob der Gordische Knoten der internationalen Klimaverhandlungen in den kommenden Jahren gelöst werden kann, steht derzeit völlig offen. Eines jedenfalls scheint mir jetzt schon klar: die internationale Führungsrolle, die Europa in den vergangenen 20-30 Jahren in umwelt- und klimapolitischen Fragen eingenommen hat, neigt sich langsam dem Ende zu. Der Heiligendammer G8 Klimagipfel wird den relativen Machtverlust der EU auf dem internationalen Parkett grüner Machtpolitik und den graduellen Aufstieg der neuen Supermächte erstmals deutlich zum Ausdruck bringen.