Climate change and the transformation of energy technologies for a low carbon future

01 May 2009

The national science academies of the G8 nations and Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa have signed a statement on Climate change and the transformation of energy technologies for a low carbon future.

The statement calls on world leaders, particularly those meeting at the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, to:

  • agree at the UNFCCC negotiations in Copenhagen to adopt a long-term global goal and near-term emission reduction targets that will deliver an approximately 50% reduction in global emissions from 1990 levels by 2050;
  • significantly increase fundamental international research on the earth's climate, on low carbon and climate resilient technologies, and on ways to protect and enhance the resilience of natural systems to climate change;
  • identify the common strategic priorities for developing and implementing environmentally sustainable technologies for adaptation and mitigation;
  • collaborate in the implementation of low carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure and technologies, and in the implementation of innovative incentives, through the use of economic and regulatory instruments, to accelerate adoption of clean "green" technologies;
  • support and enable developing countries' access to and use of the technologies needed to deliver a sustainable low carbon energy future;
  • pursue the development, demonstration and deployment of economically efficient and technologically safe CCS, and explore the establishment of standards for CCS;
  • pursue international cooperation on safe and secure nuclear power capacity, the safe disposal of nuclear waste, and the reduction of the risk of proliferation;
  • substantially increase investment into the development and deployment of technologies for adaptation, and increase funding specifically for the most vulnerable countries.

Read the related press release here.

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