G8, emerging nations resume climate change talks at Mexico summit

Ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations (G8) and dozens of other emerging economies met on Tuesday, in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, to discuss ways to combat climate change.

The ministers from G8 nations and developing countries such as Brazil, China and India negotiated how to set up a new framework for tackling climate change before the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, sources said.

At the opening of the two-day meeting, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett stated that climate change is reaching "equilibrium point," and noted that the problem is more serious than what was previously assumed.

Beckett said that the energy industry will have to invest some 17 billion U.S. dollars between now and 2030 to combat climate change, adding that humanity has to change the basis of how it lives.

Mexican Environment Minister Jose Luis Luege said that the Monterrey meeting is an important opportunity for developing countries to facilitate investment.

Industrialized countries need to help poorer nations have access to more environmentally friendly technology, he said.

The Monterrey meeting is an extension of the so-called Gleneagles Dialogue, which began at the sidelines of the G8 summit in July 2005 in the Scottish town of Gleneagles.

Source: Xinhua