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G8 Finance Ministers Agree to

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Reuters
March 28, 1999
Schwerin, Germany - Leading industrial nations agreed on Sunday that binding environmental standards should be included in future international trade agreements, German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said. Trittin speaking after two days of talks with ministers from the so-called Group of Eight countries, said the agreement was a "clear signal to government leaders to meet ecological needs in developing economic and trade ties". In a paper drawn up at the talks, ministers also dropped their opposition to the introduction of taxes on fuels used by planes and ships to help contain carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases' believed by many scientists to cause global warming. But they were unable to agree on proposals to allow trade in so-called "emission rights" - said by backers to be a key mechanism for cutting down on overall pollution. The emissions rights trade was agreed in a global climate treaty signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and would let polluting states meet stricter clean air standards by buying credits from states that have already cut their gas output. At the Kyoto conference, countries agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. The results of the weekend talks, held in the eastern German city of Schwerin, will be submitted to the Group of Eight summit in Cologne in June. The G8 compromises the Group of Seven rich industrial nations - the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - plus Russia.

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