Get to know this name: Copenhagen.

In 1997, Kyoto, Japan was given new significance to the environmental world when a conference in the city gave rise to the eponymous protocols meant to decrease human output of greenhouse gases, particularly CO₂.

After this year's G8 Summit, however, the name of Copenhagen, Denmark, could end up ringing louder.

The group of eight leading industrial nations, the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada, adjourned this week from the 33rd G8 Summit, all stating their goals of implementing an international successor to Kyoto when the world meets in Copenhagen at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, to take place Nov. 30 to Dec. 11, 2009.

The Group of Eight leading industrial nations reached commitment at their summit on Monday that would set a goal to halve the world’s emissions of greenhouse gases over 40 years.

The eight nations endorsed a non-binding idea of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, though no immediate actions were planned.

“The G-8 nations came to a mutual recognition that this target: cutting global emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 should be a global target,” said Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who hosted the summit.

While the measure stops short of setting near-term goals, the accord is significant in two respects, all greenhouse gases and all major economies are included. This would include countries like China and India.

The agreement addressed cutting global emissions, not just those from industrialized countries, which President Bush has said is a key complaint about the Kyoto accords and other proposed agreements. According to recent data, the United Nations believes that rapid growth in China has since 2006 surpassed the United States as the world's largest emitter of CO₂. However, according to 2004 data, over 61 percent of the world's carbon emissions were produced by the G8 nations, over a third of that made in the United States.

While some view the plan as ambitious, environmentalist groups were visibly disappointed as they were seeking not only more short-term requirements but stiffer long-term ones. The United States, for one, argued that cutting such emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020 – the goal set by the European Union for its member nations – is an unrealistic goal. The group has left it open for countries to increase their efforts should they choose to do so.

“The G-8 will implement aggressive midterm total emission reduction targets on a country by country basis,” said Fukuda.