Climate talks

In an interview with German public radio ARD in Rome, Environment Minister Gabriel said the most important threshold countries had begun to wake up to their own climate responsibilities.

Gabriel said that countries such as India and China had accepted that they, as well as industrialised nations, have to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

The minister added that the 17 countries attending the Major Economies Forum (MEF) in Rome had recognised the importance of not letting the average global temperature rise above two degrees Celsius.

"These are two great results," Gabriel told the radio broadcaster. "If we were to carry on as we have been until now, temperatures would rise by four, five or six degrees."

And that, say scientists, could have catastrophic consequences, such as more heat waves, floods and droughts as well as the extinction of species.

Room for greater improvement

"We don't have the choice between climate change and no climate change," Gabriel added. "We have to decide between dangerous and controlable climate change."

But the last-minute MEF meeting, called to offer leaders a chance to agree a united front on climate change ahead of talks on the subject at the G-8 summit in L'Aquila, did not produce a timetable for implementation.

Nor indeed, did the talks induce countries such as China and India to agree to a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But Gabriel said he was optimistic that further negotiations ahead of the 15th United Nations climate conference at the end of the year, would yield the results the environment needs.

tkw/dpa/reuters/ARD
Editor: Michael Lawton