U.S. needs deep emission cuts by 2020, say G8 leaders

Meeting in Japan on Sunday, European and developing countries urged the United States to commit to deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 — a step they say is needed to defuse a coming ecological disaster caused by global warming, according to the Associated Press.

"The European Union has pledged a 20 percent emissions reduction by 2020, and has offered to raise it to 30 percent if other nations sign on," the AP says.

"The G8 nations — the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia and France — are largely on board with a proposal to attempt to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases responsible for global warming by 50 percent by 2050," the AP says. However, the focus of the meeting in Japan is to set midterm targets for 2020

But a major focus of the meeting in Kobe is midterm targets for 2020, "which scientists say are needed to avoid a potentially disastrous rise in world temperatures of more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over levels prior to the industrial age,'' the AP report notes.

--Craig Pittman