Environment takes a back seat at the G8

As the G-8 summit convenes today in L'Aquila, Italy, one of the biggest and most divisive issues on the table is the environment. Amid claims that the earth is reaching its irreversible "danger threshold," both industrialized and developing countries are still searching for ways to fight against concrete emissions goals. Perhaps the most powerful factor, however, is the apparent belief that reducing emissions will further stall worldwide recovery from the current recession.

One of the biggest problems has been setting an international standard on global warming. The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) has argued that nations need to ensure that the earth's temperature doesn't rise more than two percent over the pre-industrial standard. To that end, the WWF has issued scorecards to various nations, conveying what each country needs to do and how one country ranks against another.