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G8 fails on climate change

The Group of Eight most industrialised countries (G8) has failed to protect the world against climate change, according to a report by global insurer Allianz and the World Wildlife Fund.

The latest G8 climate scorecards – which ranks the top eight industrialised countries according to their climate change policy – shows a lack of a clear leader.

The report says while Germany has slightly improved, Canada and Russia completely failed to pass the test. The US has worked its way up to seventh place, thanks to climate initiatives announced by the Obama administration.

While the UK and France have achieved their Kyoto targets, their long-term climate performance is inadequate, the report says. Italy and Japan have relatively low emissions but their policy measures do not go far enough to further reduce emissions.