The US prevails

For the daily La Repubblica, the G8's programme on climate change marks a victory for the US: "The [agreement] comes eight years too late, corresponding to the amount of time it took George W. Bush to see there was a problem at all. ... The agreement is a step backwards, bypassing and reversing the progress begun in Kyoto. The trick lies in the time frame adopted. The reduction which scientists and academics see as necessary to save the climate is 50 percent of 1990 CO2 emissions. But this date is intentionally suppressed in the G8 document. ... That means that the approach adopted in Kyoto is being cast aside. The extent of the reduction - which depends on the year taken as starting point - has been postponed to further negotiations, and will be decided according not to scientific, but to political criteria. The White House has won out."

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