G8 makes scant progress to Copenhagen climate pact

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent - Analysis

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - A G8 summit made scant progress towards a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in December with some nations back-pedalling on promises of new action even before the end of a meeting in Italy.

"This hasn't given me a huge rush of adrenalin," said Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate change official, of climate decisions by the G8 summit and a 17-member climate forum of major emitters including China and India.

"Generally this is careful but useful step forward towards Copenhagen...I'm still confident that the deal can be done," he said of the U.N. pact due to be agreed in mid-December.

Among disappointments, the G8 failed to persuade China and India and other developing nations to sign up for a goal of halving world emissions by 2050.

Among progress, rich and poor nations acknowledged that temperature rises should be limited to 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) -- a goal that would force deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if followed through. And G8 nations set a new goal of cutting their overall emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

"Enough was not achieved...but a new guidance post was inserted," said Jennifer Morgan of the London-based E3G think-tank, referring to the 2 Celsius target.

She said the 2 Celsius goal implied a need for a shift to "action rather than just dithering and avoiding decisions."

But the focus of talks on a new U.N. deal is on 2020 cuts in emissions by developed nations and ways to raise tens of billions of dollars in new funds to help poor nations combat droughts, floods, heatwaves and rising sea levels.