world powers have climate constipation

The world's most powerful industrial nations and emerging powers met and discussed the climate and reductions in emissions--but no consensus came out. Included in what didn't happen was a proposal dropping emissions 50% by 2050.

The New York Times reports:

The failure to establish specific targets on climate change underscored the difficulty in bridging longstanding divisions between the most developed countries like the United States and developing nations like China and India. In the end, people close to the talks said, the emerging powers refused to agree to the specific emissions limits because they wanted industrial countries to commit to midterm goals in 2020, and to follow through on promises of financial and technological help. full article

Luckily, American officials report that G-8 nations within the discussion have agreed to 2050 reductions, even thought developing countries would not jump on board.