Top 20 Polluting Nations Meet Blahblahblah Timetables Blahblah Discussions Continue Blahblah - AFP

[hatrack]

The world's top 20 polluters gathered here Friday amid hopes that their talks can help break a deadlock and add momentum to negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Former British prime minister Tony Blair, who launched the so-called Group of 20 (G20) initiative on global warming in 2005, was in Japan as the head of a new team of international experts tasked with securing a climate deal.

Blair's team, backed by the United States and Europe, will issue reports on the remaining differences among major countries ahead of a UN-backed goal to seal a post-Kyoto deal by the end of 2009.

"There is a deadlock. Everyone is agreed where we want to get to, but unless you agree on the framework for getting there, you are left with a process and not a result," Blair told The Guardian newspaper in London before heading to Japan. The United States has resisted EU-led calls for binding international goals on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for warming that could have catastrophic consequences for the planet in coming decades.

Blair, who stepped down as prime minister last year after 10 years in power, said he thought he could prepare a framework for a 50 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2050.

EDIT

http://www.france24.com/en/20080314-japan-G20-climate-warning-top-polluters&navi=SCIENCES

Sorry, Tony - not good enough. Not even fucking CLOSE.

[gear_head]

1. somebody needs to go first

the UK would seem to be a good candidate.

other countries could follow,
avoiding the mistakes.