As G8 leaders prepare to tackle the topic of oil prices and the big energy challenges that lie ahead for the global economy, it appears there will be no mention of hard targets to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The Canadian Press has obtained a draft statement to be issued after key meetings on Wednesday between the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.
The document seeks to defer any agreement on specific emissions until a United Nations climate change conference in Denmark next year.
"We believe that it would be desirable for the parties to adopt in negotiations under the (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) a long-term global goal for reducing global emissions, taking into account the principle of equity,'' the draft statement says.
The major economies meeting has been brokered by the U.S. and will bring together the G8 members with the UN and South Africa, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, South Korea, India and Australia.
The draft, obtained by CP, is expected to form the foundation for a joint statement expected later in the week.
It makes no mention of specific goals and ignores last year's G8 agreement to consider halving global emissions by 2050, according to CP.
"The big question is climate change, and the early signals from Canada and the United States is that they're position is not changing," reported CTV's Graham Richardson Monday morning local time from Toyako, Japan, where the meetings are being held.
Canada, the U.S. and Russia refuse to endorse new, hard cuts on greenhouse gas emissions that don't include big emitters like China and India, two of the world's biggest polluters.
But the G8's European contingent, including France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany, say developed nations must lead the way before developing countries follow them in making deep emissions cuts.
Zimbabwe impact
On Monday, the first official day of meetings, leaders began the day discussing aid and development in Africa, with a special focus on agriculture, but the situation in Zimbabwe quickly rose on the agenda.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn't shy away from the controversial topic, warning that Africa's tolerance of Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe hurts the entire continent's credibility.
"We're being told from the G8 there was a very blunt message to the African leaders that Mr. Mugabe's regime is illegitimate -- it can't stand, it must go and Africa needs to act, so a very clear and blunt message," Richardson, reporting from Toyako where the meetings are being held, told Canada AM.
"We're also told that Stephen Harper personally delivered that to the African leaders. Their response apparently was that they had delivered a similar message but it's clear from the G8's perspective that it's not enough."
Richardson said the message to African leaders was that the presence of a leader like Mugabe could affect the G8's willingness to send aid to struggling nations in the continent.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for years, was re-elected recently in a run-off election where he was the only real candidate on the ballot.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the vote over allegations of state-sponsored violence against his supporters.
The run-off election has been heavily criticized by world leaders, though Richardson said many African leaders have been hesitant to openly criticize Mugabe.
"Clearly from the G8 leader's perspective and from Canada's perspective they need to do more of that if they're hoping to get past this," Richardson said.
"And the G8 leaders were very clear, including Mr. Harper. They said this man must go and Africa must deal with this on their own and they have to solve this problem by removing him. It just can't stand."
Africa aid
Aid to Africa -- or the lack thereof -- was also high on the agenda.
Activists have called for more aid to Africa and have singled out Canada, France, Italy and Japan with accusations they haven't done enough to address the problems.
They called on those members to increase their contributions. Together, the G8 has donated $3 billion of the $25 billion that the group committed to in 2005, according to estimates from DATA (Debt, AIDS, and Trade in Africa).
Germany, the U.S. and the U.K. were cited as having followed through on their pledges.
