G8 May Invest US$10 Bln/Year in Technology to Cut CO2
JAPAN: June 30, 2008
TOKYO - The Group of Eight wealthy nations are looking at investing more
than US$10 billion a year to support new technologies to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions, including carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), a
Japanese daily reported on Sunday.
A draft statement on economic issue is being considered for release at the
July 7-9 summit of G8 leaders in Hokkaido, northern Japan, the business
daily Nikkei said.
The G8 countries plan to fund research to develop CCS projects, which bury
emissions from power plants, as a measure to help meet a global target to
halve greenhouse gases by 2050, Nikkei said.
The draft statement also includes an agreement to set national interim goals
to reduce emissions by 2020-2030, a step environmentalists and the EU say is
vital, the Nikkei said, adding that no figures were included.
A Japanese government source told Reuters last week that the United States
had yet to agree to a goal of reducing global emissions by 50 percent by
mid-century.
The G8 leaders will share strong concern over rising crude oil prices, which
are pushing up inflation and depressing the world economy, Nikkei said.
The leaders will call for oil-consuming and producing nations to cooperate
more closely, the newspaper said.
Oil prices rose to a record near US$143 a barrel on Friday. Prices have
jumped more than 45 percent this year, extending a six-year rise, as supply
struggles to keep pace with rising demand from emerging economies such as
China and India.
With regard to rising food prices, the G8 nations will provide assistance to
developing countries to increase food production.
They will speak up against food export restrictions imposed by some
producing countries, Nikkei said.
Separately, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said the G8 nations could agree to
stand ready to release grain from national and private food reserves at
times of food crisis.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pledged at a United Nations food summit
this month to release at least 300,000 tonnes of imported rice from storage
into the world market to ease the global food crisis and urged other
countries to do likewise. (Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo and Linda Sieg;
Editing by Alan Raybould)
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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