There’s not a lot of good news coming out of G8 summits these days, and the yesterday’s meeting in Japan proved little exception. It seems the leaders of the 8 most developed nations are indeed willing to agree to halve greenhouse gas emissions—but not until most will be long dead, in the year 2050.   

Aside from mid- and short-term carbon reduction goals, other major issues sidestepped at the meeting of world powers include additional assistance to developing nations in adapting green power and solid decisions on the world food crisis.

With a new US President to be elected this fall, I can understand some of the trepidation expressed the by group; who wants to make a solid deal that might change in a few months’ time? But the now-obvious magnitude of the climate problem means some hard decisions must be made if the world as we know it is to remain intact.

Major developing countries have already signaled a willingness to go along with nearly any plan the G8 comes out with; it’s now on the heads of Japan, Canada and the United States—the three major holdouts on cutting carbon emissions—to step up and lead.