Forum of major economies fails to agree to emission cuts

The Major Economies Forum (MEF) which met alongside the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy on 9 July 2009 and gathered leaders of all the world’s major greenhouse gas emitters failed to agree on a long-term goal to halve global emissions by 2050. While G8 leaders pledged to reduce their carbon emissions by 80%, this was not enough to convince countries such as China and India, which called for rich nations to make more specific funding commitments and clearer short to medium term reduction targets. China and India were particularly critical of G8 countries’ progress towards meeting targets for 2020.