Clearing the air at G8

The following is not a full transcript; for full story, listen to audio.

President Barack Obama and other G-8 leaders are meeting in L’Aquila, Italy. Top of their agenda is climate change. The leaders of the world’s top industrialized nations are aiming at new targets to battle global warming, including a goal of keeping the world’s average temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. But the wealthy nations were unable to persuade leaders of developing countries to commit to reductions of their own. Their cooperation is considered critical to avoiding the worst effects of climate change.

India’s Prime Minister said that poorer countries have a role in reducing climate change, but not at the expense of economic growth, "As responsible members of the international community, we recognize our obligation to preserve and protect our environment. But climate change cannot be addressed by perpetuating the poverty of the developing countries."

Similar sentiments were expressed by China and Brazil. India, China and Brazil are not members of the G8, but they participated in the Summit.

On "The Takeaway," Richard Gowan, associate director of New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, a think-tank that works on the G-8, the U.N. and the World Bank, talked about the debate over carbon emissions at the Summit.

"It’s entirely predictable," says Gowan, "Because it comes down to the simplest thing in politics, which is who pays. The question is, are developed countries going to take on the burden of paying for dealing with climate change? Or can some of that cost be moved on to developing economies like India, which are, as their economies grow, creating huge amounts of carbon emissions.

"The G8 Western countries say ‘we’re prepared to cut our carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, but we want the developing countries to cut their emissions by 50 percent.’ Now that sounds like a good deal, but the developing countries say, ‘no, in terms of our efforts to end poverty, in terms of our efforts to become rich Western-style countries, those things aren’t compatible. And you’re asking us to pay the price for your development in the past.’"

Gowan believes a lot of what is discussed at the G8 now is posturing, and the "hard stuff" in the climate change negotiations will come later in the year.

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