The G8 have released their statement on global growth and climate change (PDF). The BBC’s take is here. Benny Peiser, a Germanophone who has been following these negotiations carefully, has the following comments:

The compromise at the G8 climate summit appears to be based on the US- and Canadian-backed climate plan presented by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The G8 has essentially agreed that any effective international framework on climate change must include China, India and other major greenhouse gas emitters from the developing world. More importantly, by offering a deal to cut global CO2 emissions by half, not just those of a handful of richer nations, the G8 has shifted international pressure away from the West and onto China and India. The BBC claim that “the compromise appears to bring Mr Bush’s plan into the wider UN-brokered process – something the US had previously resisted” is a bit of a red herring as Bush’s own climate initiative doesn’t see itself outside the UNFCCC framework: “Under The President’s Proposal, The United States Will Convene The Major Emitters And Energy Consumers To Advance And Complete The New Framework By The End Of 2008. The U.S. remains committed to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and we expect the new framework to complement ongoing UN activity….” See also my assessment of the US-Japanese post-Kyoto strategy.

Despite “considering” the target of 50% cuts by 2050, the agreement contains no targets or timetables, just an agreement to talk some more. As such, it is yet another entry in the history of G8 agreements to agree later on this issue.