Tequila sunset: The ethanol boom.

Mexico without tequila? It seems a far-fetched notion but the country’s farmers are shunning the famous agave plant because of poor prices and switching to profitable crops. By Guy Adams

Wednesday, 27 August 2008

 GETTY IMAGES
Farmers load blue agave plants on a truck for the production of tequila in Arandas, Mexico. But the falling prices for the crop, and the soaring prices for corn and beans, have put tequila at risk

Savour that frozen margarita in your hand, for soon you might not be able to afford it. Mexico’s tequila industry is about to become the latest victim of America’s growing thirst for ethanol.

Soaring demand for biofuel has sent global commodity prices through the roof, prompting farmers of blue agave, the cactus-like plant from which the country’s national spirit is made, to move into more lucrative cash crops such as wheat and corn.

Picturesque plantations of agave – with its long spiky leaves and a heart like a pineapple – are being replaced with orderly rows of corn, a crop now selling for a record 18 cents per pound, as US consumers from across the border seek respite from the soaring oil prices that have pushed the price of petrol over $4 (£2) a gallon and turn to ethanol.

Global food price rises have also seen the cost of another rival crop, beans, rise by 60 per cent in the past six months to 59 cents per pound. By comparison, agave, which in 2002 was worth more than 80 cents a pound, is now retailing for less than two cents. As a result, many farmers of agave – pronounced “a-hav-ay” – are taking the difficult decision to let their over-ripe plants turn brown in the desert sun, claiming it is no longer economically viable for them to bother with the annual harvest.

“Corn is where the money is now,” one large-scale farmer, Miguel Ramirez, told USA Today. “I’m going to get out of agave completely.” Martin Sanchez, director of agriculture for Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council, added: “We don’t have numbers but we know it is happening: people are abandoning their fields of agave and flipping over to other crops.”

Although tequila has been one of the global drinks trade’s biggest success stories of recent years, industry experts are now concerned the move to lucrative rival crops could lead to an agave shortage, limiting the supply of the spirit, and driving up the cost of the shots and cocktails enjoyed by Western consumers.

Officials say producers planted between 25 and 35 per cent less of the crop last year, and expect a similar decrease in production for 2008. Because the plant takes more than six years to reach full maturity, it will be impossible to cope with any shortage when the full effects are eventually felt.

The tequila industry is prone to cycles of boom and bust. In the late 1990s, disease and a series of cold winters killed off many agave plantations, causing an international shortage that more than doubled the cost of a typical bottle. Since then, demand for the robust drink has soared, thanks for a boom in the market for premium products, which can retail for several hundred dollars a bottle. But the supply end of the chain may be about to give out.

“Because of the slow growth rate of agave, it is especially sensitive to the boom-and-bust agricultural cycle, only played out in a slightly longer cycle” said Larry Walker, the US correspondent of Drinks International.

A Mexican farm hand Raudel Lopez Sandoval agrees. “You tend an agave for six years, and then the price drops on you or you get hit with a freeze or something. It’s a lot of investment to lose,” he told USA Today. “Beans grow fast.”

The highest quality agave is grown at altitudes of between 1,500 and 2,000 metres, in the regions around the town of Tequila, near to Guadalajara. After harvesting, its pulp is fermented with yeast before being double distilled and aged in oak casks.

Although tequila is legally required to contain at least 51 per cent agave, even cheap brands have recently moved to 100 per cent levels, thanks to the current glut on the market. Experts say any increase in price is most likely to have an impact on the budget market.

“This would principally affect low quality tequila, which will be altered so that it contains a lower percentage of agave,” said Chris Mercer of the drinks industry website www.just-drinks.com. “If people get more money for other crops, they will stop growing agave and the price will rise. It’s basic economics.”

Tequila isn’t the only drink being hurt by the ethanol boom. In Germany, brewers recently complained that farmers were moving out of the barley market, making it more costly to produce their traditional premium beers.

From the agave plant to the bottle: how tequila is made

The raw ingredient

Contrary to popular belief, blue agave, the raw plant at the beginning of the tequila-making process, is not a cactus but a lily. The indigenous plant grows in the highlands of central Mexico and has been cultivated in the region for 9,000 years. Budding tequila home-brewers must be willing to travel the distance, as agave is not, to date, something that can be scooped up at the supermarket or even the deli and – by law – it must be harvested only in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Guanajuato, Mlchoacan, Nayarit or Tamaulipas.

Preparation

Remove the pina, the large pineapple-shaped heart on the agave, which can weigh between 40lb and 70lb. Allow 15lb of pina per litre of 100 per cent tequila.

Cook

The pina is steam-cooked at high temperatures, in stone ovens heated up to a maximum of 95 degrees Celsius for up to 36 hours. That not only allows the fibres to soften without the agave turning to sugar, but also improves the flavour.

Wash

The ethic behind the wash is very much “waste not want not” as it is carried out to prevent the unwanted fibres from stealing any of the desired juices by re-absorption. What emerges is a delectably named juice known as honey water.

Mill and strain

This extracts the juices which are then mixed with water in a big fermentation tank and yeast is thrown in.

Ferment

The mixture is left to ferment for between one and 12 days in a treated tank. The fermentation process produces a liquid which is then fermented twice more. The second distillation process produces three components: the “head” which is discarded, the “end” which is recycled and the ‘heart’ which becomes the tequila.

Age

Tequila cannot legally assume its name without aging in an oak barrel when it becomes either blanco, plata, oro, reposado or anejos (white, silver, gold, rested or aged). However, colour does not necessarily reflect quality.

Bottle

For legal reasons, the labelling is key to the process, with every label having to be printed with either “hecho en Mexico” or NOM (Norma Official Mexicana), the producer’s four-digit registration number and the tequila’s age.

Miranda Bryant

The 10-member ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. They are joined by Japan, China and South Korea in the ASEAN Plus Three talks. This is the 13 member Asian cover.

The East Asia Summit involves these 13 plus Australia, New Zealand and India.

Then comes the ARF - Asean Regional Forum -  that includes these 16 and Canada, North Korea, Russia, the U.S., the EU and others - so here we get the whole Eurasian world with the addition of the US and Canada, and with the exclusion of Africa, Latin America and the Small Island States.

The ASEAN Regional Forum will meet in Singapore on this Thursday - on Thursday - July 24, 2008.

The series of meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is held annually in the summer to prepare for the leaders’ Summit later in the year that will focus mainly on food and security, disaster management, economic conditions and climate change issues, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said in Tokyo.

The ARF now will place specific emphasis on security issues, particularly disaster relief, counterterrorism, maritime security, and nonproliferation and disarmament, according to the officials.

The whole onion reminds us of what went on under the cover of the runnup to the Hokkaido G8 meetings earlier this month. This time, the Summit will include only the 13 States that amount to the 11 Asian States including India and the auxiliaries from Australia - New Zealand. This Summit will leave out the TransAtlantic party goers.

A new Americas Society and Council of the Americas (AS/COA) white paper details corporate commitment to supporting the integration of Hispanic immigrants. Drawing from original research and site visits in Atlanta, GA, and New Orleans, LA, the paper highlights the challenges to the integration of recent immigrants, the contributions of Hispanic immigrants to the U.S. economy, and innovative efforts by business to smooth the integration of Hispanic communities and workers into the social and economic fabric of the U.S.

About the White Paper: The new AS/COA white paper, U.S. Business and Hispanic Integration: Expanding the Economic Contributions of Immigrants, demonstrates a collective commitment by private sector leaders to integrating immigrant communities and offers best practices for encouraging Hispanic workforce development and community integration. It features case studies of business′ efforts to facilitate and promote integration and highlights Hispanic contributions to the U.S. economy. Funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, the AS/COA Hispanic Integration Initiative is engaging private-sector leaders in support of initiatives that promote Hispanic integration, through meetings held in New York, NY, Atlanta, GA, and New Orleans, LA.

There will be a press conference in Wahington DC on Wednesday, July 23rd, and a main meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday, July 24th.

on Wednesday the confirmed speakers are: Myles Gladstone, Vice President, Miller & Long Co, Inc.;
Susan Minushkin, Deputy Director, Pew Hispanic Center;
Christopher Sabatini, Senior Director of Policy, Americas Society and Council of the Americas;
and Susan Segal, President & CEO, Americas Society and Council of the Americas.

on Thursday the main event title is: “U.S. Business and Hispanic Integration” and will be held at:

2359 Rayburn House Office Building (Capitol Hill)
Washington, DC - Thursday, July 24, 2008.

Registration: 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Program: 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

with confirmed participants: Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY)
Rep. Charles A. González (TX)
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (TX)
Rep. Michael M. Honda (CA)
Remarks also to be provided by members of the AS/COA Hispanic Integration National Business Council and Advisory Board along with AS/COA:

Lourdes Diaz - Senior Director of Diversity Relations, Sodexo, Inc.

Peter Johnson - Rockefeller Family and Associates

Bob Merchent - Vice President, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding

Fred Niehaus - Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, The Western Union Company

John Ozburn - Vice President of Human Resources, Tecta America Corp.

Christopher Sabatini - Senior Director of Policy, Americas Society and Council of the Americas

Susan Segal - President and CEO, Americas Society and Council of the Americas.
The new AS/COA white paper, U.S. Business and Hispanic Integration: Expanding the Economic Contributions of Immigrants, will demonstrate a collective commitment by private sector leaders to integrating immigrant communities and offer best practices for encouraging Hispanic workforce development and community integration. It features case studies of business’ efforts to facilitate and promote integration and highlights Hispanic contributions to the U.S. economy.

Funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, the AS/COA Hispanic Integration Initiative is engaging private-sector leaders in support of initiatives that promote Hispanic integration. Through meetings held in New York, NY, Atlanta, GA, and New Orleans, LA, we have brought nationally and locally-operating businesses together with public sector officials and community groups to exchange lessons learned and best practices. A National Business Council—companies at the forefront of integration efforts—anchors and provides guidance to the initiative. Findings document the many major U.S. corporations that already offer (or sponsor) programs that promote integration.
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Further information: Please contact Jorge Merino at  jmerino at as-coa.org or (202) 659-8989. For media inquires: Caitlin Miner-Le Grand, 212-277-8384,  cminerlegrand at as-coa.org
Americas Society is the premier forum dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Its mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social, and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship.

The Council of the Americas is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. The Council’s membership consists of leading international companies representing a broad spectrum of sectors, including banking and finance, consulting services, consumer products, energy and mining, manufacturing, media, technology, and transportation.

G8 climate rift emerges says the Toronto Star - PM Harper pushed softer deal on climate.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper worked to ensure that the Group of Eight leaders produced a climate change agreement that did not contain overly ambitious goals for cutting greenhouse gases, a senior Canadian government official says.

Les Whittington, OTTAWA BUREAU, The Toronto Star, July 9, 2008, from Toyako, Japan:
The stage has been set at the Group of Eight summit for a lengthy duel between rich nations and fast-developing economies like India and China over a global strategy for dealing with climate change.

The G8 nations—Canada, the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Britain and Russia—overcame their differences to sign an accord here in which they vowed to work to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.

While environmentalists derided the agreement as woefully inadequate, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other G8 leaders heralded it as an important breakthrough because it was the first time U.S. President George W. Bush has accepted the need to set targets for cutting carbon emissions.

On the third day of the summit, the G8 group engaged Chinese President Hu Jintao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders of so-called “major economies” in the climate change debate.

But by then the so-called Group of Five—Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa—had already slammed the G8 climate change accord announced on the second day of the Japan summit. The five countries said it’s up to the rich nations to do more to tackle global warming because they have contributed heavily to the problem. The G8 should commit to deep short-term cuts that would reduce emissions by 25 per cent to 40 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels, the G5 leaders said.

{and you know what - for once we applaud the above Group of 5 whae compared to Canada’s Harper and his Group of 8 - this is www.SustainabiliTank.info comment}

On Wednesday, after a meeting of the G8 and Hu, Singh and the other emerging economy leaders, a joint agreement was released in which they committed to work toward worldwide greenhouse gas reductions during United Nations-led negotiations over the next 18 months.

The leaders agreed that they need to cooperate to develop “a long-term global goal for emission reductions” but the statement does not give any specific targets for emissions cuts.

And all indications were that China and India declined, at least for now, to sign on to the G8’s plan to halve emissions by 2050.

The statement also stresses that efforts to combat climate change should be undertaken “in accordance with our common but differentiated responsibilities,” meaning that poorer countries should not be expected to make the same sacrifices as rich nations.

This fundamental split between industrialized G8 powers and emerging economies poses a significant hurdle for the next phase of international efforts to confront the climate crisis under UN-led negotiations. The goal, as set at a UN-backed conference in Bali last year, is to reach an agreement by the end of 2009 to replace the emissions-reduction targets in the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, along with U.S. President George W. Bush, insists that efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions must include developing nations as well as industrialized economies.

“We’ve got to have reasonable participation by everybody,” Harper said at a press conference wrapping up the G8 summit.

The G8 is committed to halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Harper noted. But “by 2050, the developed world will probably represent no more than 20 per cent of emissions. You can’t get a 50 per cent cut from 20 per cent of the emissions. { ??? what is he talking about? It is 50% from Canada’s emissions and this is totally irrelevant from how much this is from the Global total. }

“We’ve obviously got to find a reasonable accommodation that respects different economic circumstances,” he said. In the case of some developing nations, it may not be necessary to actually reduce emissions, Harper suggested. Instead, a country might be able to contribute to fighting global warming simply by slowing the rate of growth of emissions.

Harper also told the media that rising oil and food prices are a “major concern.”

“There are serious risks to (world economic) growth and to the advancement of people in poor countries as a consequence of food price increases.”

He said this is why Canada has raised its food aid this year. But “more has to be done to deal with that problem.”

In all, the G8 has contributed $10 billion since January to support food aid and at the Japan summit, the G8 agreed to set up a task force to coordinate action to deal with the current food crisis.

But anti-poverty groups complained that the G8 made only passing reference to government policies promoting production of biofuels, which some analysts say is the prime cause of runaway food inflation.

Harper also said that in the closed-door discussions here, G8 leaders expressed unanimous support for the effort by Canada and other countries to bring stability to Afghanistan in the face of a Taliban insurgency.

“Every one of the G8 countries understands that success in Afghanistan is critical and understands that we have serious challenges there,” he said.

“There’s not necessarily easy answers,” he added, particularly when it comes to dealing with the volatile Pakistan-Afghanistan border. But Canada has lots of support from its allies in this effort, Harper said.

Harper also defended the G8, which many observers say has outlived its usefulness during its three decades of annual big power meetings.

Harper said the G8 is valuable because it brings together “the major, developed democratic nations of the world.” He said it’s often easier to reach consensus among this like-minded group and that allows member nations to “more forcefully make our position to the wider world.”

At the same time, he said it’s important for the G8 to bring other leaders into the annual discussions, as is being done with countries such as Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

On certain issues, Harper said, “We can’t make the kind of progress we’d like to make unless we have certain major developing countries at the table.”

With the G8 wrapping up, Harper was scheduled to fly to Tokyo, where he will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and business leaders.

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We wish Harper well in his endeavors, but by 2009 seemingly the US, Canada and Japan will be led by a new set of Heads of State, and the change will be for the better we assume.

Global Markets - latest news

No formal greenhouse targets at G8 summit.
Bush: Call for reductions marks ’significant progress’

By William L. Watts & Chris Oliver, MarketWatch. a Wall Street Journal Blog.
July 9, 2008

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Leaders of 16 nations at a multilateral gathering in Japan agreed to back a plan for making long-term reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, although the deal fell short of establishing formal reduction targets.

“We, the leaders of the world’s major economies, both developed and developing, commit to combat climate change in accordance with our common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” the nations said Wednesday in a communiqué at the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido.

The G8 nations include the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy Canada and Russia.

Backers included Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico and South Africa, in addition to the G8.

But the joint statement didn’t include language from Tuesday’s statement issued by the G8 leaders, in which they said they shared a vision to cut greenhouse emissions in half by 2050. See full story.

Only three of the non-G8 countries in attendance — South Korea, Australia and Indonesia — backed the 50% reduction, Reuters reported, and this prevented inclusion of the language in Wednesday’s statement.

Leaders of emerging economies have argued that developed countries should first spell out their own goals for emissions reductions.

All the same, President Bush hailed the final statement as a sign of “significant progress.”
“The G8 expressed our desire to have a significant reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. We made it clear and the other nations agreed that they must also participate in an ambitious goal, with interim goals and interim plans to enable the world to successfully address climate change,” Bush said. “And we made progress, significant progress, toward a comprehensive approach.”

In the end, Wednesday’s statement said the leaders shared a vision for “long-term cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions that assures growth, prosperity, and other aspects of sustainable development, including major efforts towards sustainable consumption and production, all aimed at achieving a low-carbon society.”

William L. Watts is a reporter for MarketWatch in London.
Chris Oliver is MarketWatch’s Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.

So both gentlemen were not in Hokkaido - their reporting is based on material they read on the web - Did the WSJ really see it like we did - that this G8 exercize, under Japan leadership subservient to the US wishes, will not come up with real and meaningful results?

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If it was a G8 meeting - why not take as final decision what was decided already on Friday without the participation of the other 8?

Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa - the remaining 5 out of the additional 8 - plain and simple said that they do not participate in games when the G8 do not have the stomach for real figures put down in real time. By saying that they want first to see a real offer from the G8, before putting on the record their own participation in emissions reduction, they are actually in full rights and have done nothing worse then pointing flashlights at the meager document of the G8.

As we said already in another posting today, it was the Bush, Harper Fukuda position that doomed these 2008 G8 meetings under Japan leadership. President Bush won this battle.

Our only remaining question is - why did Fukuda invite the other 8 to participate? Had the G8 met in their own closed cocoon and come up with a final declaration, was that not expected to be better then having a bigger show with folks to be held later as responsible for this failure? What does now Fukuda frame next to his Prime Minister chair in order to say that the meeting he chaired was a success?

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And the previous article - a day earlier - that was referenced in the July 9, 2008 article - The VISION thing that came to nothing a day later:

G8 leaders share ‘vision’ on emission cuts.
By MarketWatch
July 8, 2008

LONDON (MarketWatch) - Leaders of the Group of Eight wealthy nations on Tuesday said they shared a “vision” to cut global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.

In a joint statement on the environment and climate change, the G8 leaders said they “seek to share” with all parties involved in U.N.-brokered talks “the vision of … the goal of achieving at least 50% reduction of global emissions by 2050, recognizing that this global challenge can only be met by a global response.”
Leaders of the G8 nations - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia - are meeting in Toyako, Japan.

Japan and the European Union are seeking to formalized emission-reduction targets, building on last year’s general agreement among the G-8 nations to “consider seriously” the reductions.
Senior officials held a late-night session Monday to iron out the wording behind the agreement that would allow leaders to sign onto the deal without committing to a numerical target, a Reuters report said.

The U.S. and several other developed countries { read here Canada and Japan } have said they will not enter an agreement to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions which does not include binding commitments by growing industrial powers such as China and India to cut carbon.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was pleased with progress made toward climate change and other issues following a morning meeting with President Bush.

“As always, we’ve had a very interesting exchange of view, very intensive exchange of view, and let me tell you that I’m very satisfied with the work that has gone on, on the G8 documents, as regards progress on the issue of climate change, cooperation in the area of food and oil,” Merkel said at a photo opportunity with Bush.

This year’s summit, held at a lakeside resort on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, brought together leaders from 22 nations, including the top G8 officials.

{ 8+8+5 - the last five are Africans in need and they were not even deemed a reference in the article the following day that speaks of 16 - so, our question is even more to the point - if you had no intention in bringing these other 13 into the decision making process, except for eventually blaming the first 5 from among the second group of 8 for the failure, who needed here also the second group of five that did not even get invited to dinner? All of this is part of our various postings these last few days. We predicted disaster - and here it is starring at us }

For this year’s summit, the G8 has invited China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico, Australia and South Korea to its “outreach” session on climate change.

Apart from the G8’s inability to come up with anything on global warming, some world leaders have questioned the value of the summit’s current framework.

During a meeting with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on June 3, French President Nicolas Sarkozy vehemently argued that the G8 forum should be expanded to include such countries as China and India, according to Japanese diplomats.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also appears to be positive about expanding the group, although he has not explicitly discussed it, they said.

Fukuda strongly disagrees, saying the G8 should remain a forum for a small number of states bearing a large responsibility for the international community.

Tokyo fears expanding the meeting would diminish Japan’s clout on the world stage.

“Japan, Germany and Italy are reluctant about expansion. They do not want to weaken the power of the G8 to send out political messages,” said a senior Foreign Ministry in charge of European affairs.

“President Sarkozy is of the opinion that the G8 was originally started as a forum for economic discussions, and talking about economic issues without the participation of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is meaningless. He believes noneconomic issues should be discussed at the U.N. Security Council,” the official said.

But Japan, Germany and Italy are not permanent members of the Security Council and attach greater political value to the G8 forum, the official said.

Another senior Foreign Ministry official argued that expanding the G8 membership would only increase political taboos that member states can’t touch on during the closed-door summit.

For example, adding China would make it impossible to discuss human rights issues and world currency issues related to the yuan, the official said.

Despite speculation that the G8 leaders may discuss the expansion issue in Hokkaido, Japanese officials insist it will not be a formal topic.

“I guarantee that will never be on the formal agenda,” Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday. “None of (the foreign ministers) of the G8 has discussed the issue yet.

At least Japan has not said it wants to expand the G8.”

—–

Really, if they want relevancy, why not create first the United European Group of States Federation or whatever they want to call it, so little States like Italy are not allowed to interfere with the work of the big ones. So - EU, US, Russia, China, India, Japan, Brazil are a good start for a relevant compact G7. Candidates-in-waiting or whatever you want to call it are then - Australia, South Africa, Canada, Indonesia, Korea. 

OK, not to have another upset State - probably the inclusion of Canada could give us the new starting G8.

In any case, it seems that unless Japan gets a seat on the UN Security Council, the G8 will continue to show its irrelevancy for all to see. 

G-8 climate scorecard shows US in last. The U.S. has done the least among the world’s eight largest economies to address global warming, a study released Thursday found.
By PATRICK McGROARTY, BERLIN (AP) — The U.S. has done the least among the world’s eight largest economies to address global warming, a study released Thursday found.
The G-8 Climate Scorecards 2008, released Thursday ahead of next week’s gathering of the Group of Eight on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, also found that none of the eight countries are making improvements large enough to prevent temperature increases that scientists think would cause catastrophic climate changes. The gathering includes the heads of states of the U.S., Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia.
Regine Guenther, director of the World Wildlife Fund Climate Change Program in Germany, told reporters in the German capital that G-8 leaders should commit to reducing emissions in their countries 40 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. “If we don’t achieve that, the world’s climate will change in ways that we can’t even imagine today,” Guenther said.

The scorecard ranked Britain as the developed nation that has done the most to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and reach targets set by the Kyoto Protocol. France and Germany are close behind. Germany was praised for its investment in renewable energy.
“But all three countries are at best half as far along the road as they should be,” a statement announcing the study said.
The scorecard was compiled by Ecofys, a Dutch consulting company, and commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund and insurer Allianz SE.

Joachim Faber, an Allianz board member who helped compile the scorecards, said a global emissions trading market is important to fighting climate change, and that the EU should lead its development.
“The EU-specific trading system we have at the moment must serve as model system for one that we can found outside the EU, for the world economy,” he said.

The study criticized low energy efficiency in the U.S., but said there was hope in legislation under consideration by Congress and initiatives led by non-governmental groups.

The study also analyzed — but did not rank — five of the world’s fastest growing economies: Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. “These countries cannot be measured with the same ruler as industrialized countries,” the statement said.

Bush Makes Final Push for Global Climate Deal.
By Michael Abramowitz and Blaine Harden, WashPost, July 3, 2008.

“In his final months in office, President Bush is mounting a last-ditch effort to forge a new global deal to limit greenhouse-gas emissions but finds himself once again at odds with much of the rest of the world on how to address climate change. Bush aides said a deal might be struck when the president sits down next week in Japan with the leaders of the world’s largest industrialized nations and developing countries such as China and India. Japan is pushing for leaders at the Group of Eight summit to agree to a goal of cutting global carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2050, a proposal that the White House appears to be considering seriously. The Bush administration is also conducting negotiations with countries on including more-specific targets for each to meet by 2020 or 2025. Germany is pushing for more-significant cuts in emissions than the United States and some other countries are willing to consider, while China and India want the United States and other industrialized countries to do most of the heavy lifting for the next 10 to 15 years. Previewing his G-8 agenda yesterday in the Rose Garden, Bush emphasized the necessity of including the developing countries in any agreement struck by his administration… Environmentalists contend that Bush’s moves on global warming are too little, too late. They say even an agreement on a long-term goal would be meaningless because it would likely not bind the United States to making actual reductions. In many ways, they said, G-8 nations have begun to shift their focus to presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, both of whom have indicated a willingness to consider steeper reductions than Bush — the kind of cuts the White House regards as unrealistic… Anything that the leaders agree to next week would have to be worked into a treaty that the United Nations hopes to conclude by the end of 2009 in Copenhagen.”