Earth Equity News

Asia Pacific Leaders Back Down, But Brazil Steps Up to the Plate. By David Fogarty, Reuters, November 14, 2009. "Asia Pacific leaders backed away on Saturday from supporting a global halving of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, even as Brazil pledged deep cuts of its own over the next decade. An initial draft leaders' statement from an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore had said that global emissions will need to ... be reduced to 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.' But a later, watered-down version stated: 'We believe that global emissions will need to peak over the next few years, and be substantially reduced by 2050, recognizing that the timeframe for peaking will be longer in developing economies.' APEC includes the top two greenhouse gas emitters -- China and the United States -- and its meeting is the last major gathering of global decision-makers before a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in three weeks, meant to ramp up efforts to fight climate change. Its retreat may further dampen hopes that the Copenhagen meeting can yield a legally binding framework [agreement]... Brazil pledged on Friday to take its emissions back to 1990s levels by 2020 -- potentially a cut of some 20% from the 2.1 million tonnes of greenhouse gases it produced in 2005. The commitment by Latin America's biggest economy could put pressure on other nations to adopt more aggressive targets."