The G8 communiqué unfortunately seems to reflect Prime Minister Harper’s effort to sideline climate change. Despite the four paragraphs on climate change, there is nothing new here.
Climate Action Network members have responded as follows:
“Greenpeace put forth four simple demands that the G8 leaders could have followed to stop catastrophic climate change. The G8 leaders have chosen to distract themselves with the false solutions of carbon capture and storage, nuclear power and biofuels. I see no leadership here, the G8 has failed again.”
–Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International
“The lack of progress since last year’s G8 is a clear indication that after having stalled climate action in Canada over the last 4 years, the Harper government has successfully staled it at the G8 level as well. In a poll this week, three-quarters of Canadians demanded leadership from Canada. It’s time for the Harper government to get with the program.”
–Steven Guilbeault, Equiterre
“The G8 communique is a complete deja vu of what we saw in earlier G8 meetings and latest in Copenhagen. Not much vision here. The good news is that climate change is still on the agenda, and we’re not back-tracking from where we got to last year, the bad news is that there is no new commitment to actually do what is needed.”
–Kim Carstensen, WWF Global Climate Initiative
“This year’s G8 summit produced a vague declaration that contains no meaningful new commitments to tackle global warming. With Canada in charge, the G8 missed an important opportunity to make progress on climate change.”
–Clare Demerse, The Pembina Institute
“Reiterating last year’s commitment to keep global warming below two degrees is meaningless without action. Much greater reductions in global warming pollution are required from G8 countries. Otherwise, warming will be twice the dangerous threshold, which will be devastating for many of the world’s people and species.”
–Dale Marshall, David Suzuki Foundation
“At Muskoka, G8 leaders hid from their failure to fully deliver on their 2005 Gleneagles commitment to increase aid, and instead confirmed they would raid what is left to pay for climate change. Climate funds must be new and additional, not aid money, repledged, recycled, repackaged and renamed.”
–Mark Fried, Oxfam Canada
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