9 July 2008: The
Leaders Meeting of the Major Economies took place on 9 July 2008, in Hokkaido,
Japan, in conjunction with the G8 Summit. The leaders of Australia, Brazil,
Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy,
Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom,
and the United States issued a Declaration, which had been agreed during a
previous meeting held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 21-22 June 2008.

In the Declaration,
the Leaders, inter alia: commit to
combat climate change in accordance with their common but differentiated
responsibilities and respective capabilities under the UNFCCC, and to confront
the interlinked challenges of sustainable development, including energy and
food security, and human health. They welcome the process launched in Bali,
noting the Major Economies Meetings’ contribution to the Bali process, and
express support for a shared vision for long-term cooperative action, including
a long-term global goal for emission reductions that assures growth,
prosperity, sustainable development, and major efforts towards sustainable
consumption and production.
The Leaders recognize
the need for deep cuts in global emissions and the vital role of adaptation;
urge that serious consideration be given in particular to ambitious Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change scenarios; and underscore the importance of affordable,
new, more advanced, and innovative energy and land technologies,
infrastructure, and practices. Developed major economies state that they will
implement economy-wide mid-term goals and take corresponding actions in order
to achieve absolute emission reductions, reflecting comparable efforts among
them. Developing major economies agree to pursue, in the context of sustainable
development, nationally appropriate mitigation actions, supported and enabled
by technology, financing and capacity-building, with a view to achieving a
deviation from business as usual emissions.
The Leaders also recognize the contribution to greenhouse gas
stabilization of reduced deforestation, forest degradation and forest fires,
and land use and land use change and forestry. They highlight the role of
technology, in particular energy conservation, energy efficiency, disaster
reduction, and water and natural resource management technologies for the short
term, and state they will work together on mitigation technologies in specific
economic sectors and improve energy efficiency. Finally the Leaders note the
urgent need to: scale up financial flows, particularly financial support to developing
countries; create positive incentives; finance the incremental costs of
low-carbon technologies; harness potential market mechanisms; promote public
sector investment; and create enabling environments. They also state that they
will work to advance climate change-related discussions at WTO. [Leaders
Declaration]