# G8 Environment Ministers Meeting 2008 (Kobe, Japan May 24-26, 2008)

## Chair’s Summary G8 Environment Ministers Meeting

1. The G8 Ministers and European Commissioner responsible for the environment met in Kobe from May 24 to 26, 2008. They were joined by ministers and senior officials from Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Slovenia and South Africa and heads and senior officials of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE), the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank, the Secretariat of the Basel Convention, and the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The meeting was held with a view to providing appropriate inputs to the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit to be held in July.

2. The meeting highlighted the global environmental issues that the international community faces at present, encouraged each country to further strengthen their efforts at all levels, including national, regional, and global levels, and underlined the importance of facilitating such efforts through international cooperation.

3. Three themes were set as the agenda of this meeting, namely biological diversity, the 3Rs, and climate change, and discussions were held on these topics accordingly. Prior to the discussions among the ministers and other participants, a dialogue with representatives of relevant stakeholders was held, generating valuable input. A summary of the G8 ministers and other participants’ discussions during the meeting is as follows.

## Climate Change

## Transition to Low-carbon Societies for the Achievement of Long-term Goals

## Long-term goals

4. Noting the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the importance of setting long-term goals towards the realization of the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC was recognized. It was recalled that at the Heiligendamm Summit in 2007, the G8 leaders agreed to seriously consider reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least half by 2050. Strong political will was expressed to go beyond this agreement and reach agreement on a shared vision of long-term global goal at the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. It was noted that in order to halve global GHG emissions, developed countries should take the lead in achieving a significant reduction.

Transitioning to low-carbon societies and establishing an international research network on low-carbon societies

5. To realize such long-term goals, it is necessary to change the current socio-economic structures and transition to low-carbon societies. In so doing, there was general recognition of the importance of all the countries to have a clear vision of low-carbon societies. Strong support for establishing an international research network of institutions involved in the research on low-carbon societies was shown by a number of countries, and other countries also expressed their support for the consideration of its establishment.

## Actions to realize low-carbon societies

6. To achieve low-carbon societies, all countries need innovations in their lifestyle, production and consumption patterns, and social infrastructure in addition to technological innovations. It was recognized that tech-