Washington, D.C., July 8, 2008—Leaders of the G8 Summit indicated today they will seek at least a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, as part of a hoped-for worldwide agreement at the end of next year.

Statement by Myron Ebell, Director of Global Warming and Energy Policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute:

"The G8 communiqué shows that agreeing to a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol will be a very difficult task, and that is a good thing. Kyoto, which is set to expire in 2013, is failing to reduce emissions in the European Union, Japan, and Canada but is still proving costly. Any international agreement that would impose mandatory energy rationing on all the major economies, including the big developing countries such as China, India, Brazil, and the United States, would torpedo world economic growth. It would make the anemic economic growth of European Union and Japan look robust. Most importantly, a no-growth world economy that would consign billions of people to perpetual energy poverty is not acceptable.

Statement by Iain Murray, Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute:

"If global warming is a risk, then clearly we need to go beyond useless talk about future emissions reduction targets and, instead, find a plan that works. Bringing the world out of poverty is the best way to reduce the risks of a changing climate, so the next G8 summit should take aggressive steps to liberalize trade."

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