Expert opinion

	03.12.06 Victoria Panova G8 research group, University of Toronto, Director for Russia
	03.12.06 Mona Bricke German NGO Forum Environment and Development
	03.12.06 Nigel Martin Montreal International Rorum (FIM)
	02.12.06 John Kirton Head of G8 Research Group, University of Toronto
	02.12.06 Regina Gunter Head of the WWF Germany

News

Researchers Release Comprehensive Review of G8 Performance

06.06.07

KUHLUNGSBORN, GERMANY - As German Chancellor Angela Merkel opens the 2007 G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, a new report suggests that G8 countries have a long way to go to meet their 2006 commitments made at St. Petersburg. The G8 has complied with only 46% of its priority promises since the summit last July.

While this is an average performance for the G8 over the past 10 years, the G8 has not scored this poorly since the 2002 Kananaskis Summit, with its 33% score. The G8 Research Group's annual Compliance Report, released today on the G8 Information Centre website at http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/compliance,
assesses G8 members' compliance with selected priority commitments from the 2006 St. Petersburg Summit, including energy security and support for African peacekeeping. The report is the product of analysis conducted by the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto and Moscow's State University
Higher School of Economics.

The environment and Africa are set to top the G8 agenda at Heiligendamm and the G8's record on these issues over the past year has been mixed. The G8 fulfilled fewer than half of its commitments to develop national energy efficiency action plans and clean public transport. While the St. Petersburg Summit offered little in the way of ambitious climate change nitiatives, G8 countries easily complied with 89% of the promises they did make. At the same time, compliance was high with St. Petersburg commitments on debt relief for Africa and support for renewable energy technologies in developing countries, both of which had 89% compliance scores.

The United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have the highest compliance at 60%. Host Germany is slightly behind at 55%, followed by Russia at 45%.

France and Japan scored 40%, and Italy again came in last place at only 5%.

All G8 countries kept fewer of their promises than they did after the 2005 Gleneagles Summit, except for the Russian Federation, which, as host of its first regular summit in 2006, improved its average compliance score by about 25%.

"In the three areas of focus at the St. Petersburg Summit -energy security, health and education - the G8 countries only register 69%, 41% and 33% compliance, respectively," said Laura Sunderland, senior researcher with the G8 Research Group. "Particularly since Germany assumed the G8 presidency in January, G8 members have increased compliance with half of their commitments."

Expert opinion

	02.12.06 Halter Marek Le College de France
	02.12.06 Olivier Giscard d’Estaing COPAM, France
	02.12.06 Mika Ohbayashi Institute for Sustainable Energy Poliсy
	02.12.06 Bill Pace World Federalist Movement - Institute for Global Policy
	01.12.06 Peter I. Hajnal Toronto University, G8 Research Group