SKIREBEL Magazine

Government officials from 30 nations met to discuss initiatives to combat global warming at the Swedish Arctic Circle ski resort of Riksgransen last week. The four day summit was a follow up to the earlier G8 summit in Germany. Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren hailed the summit as a major summit making much more progress than he had expected. He said it gave participating nations, drawn from the leading contributors to climate change, a chance to discover each other’s positions ahead of the next UN climate change conference due to be held in Indonesia in December. That conference will begin the process of setting targets for reducing omissions after the Kyoto agreement expires in 2012.

Participating nations included Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico the United Kingdom and the United States and approximately 20 others.

Among the targets agreed were a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by half on present day levels by 2050 and the creation of a global environmental protection agency. Participants believe it will be possible to reduce emissions whilst maintaining economic growth.

Holding the talks in Riksgransen, which was still open for the 2006-7 snow season thanks to its northerly latitude, helped to focus minds. The resort currently enjoys 24 hour daylight.