The world's largest economies have finally reached consensus that climate change is happening and that the time to act is now, said Yvo de Boer, Executive Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He told reporters at UN Headquarters that he was "unexpectedly encouraged by a very constructive outcome" of the meeting of environment ministers from the "Group of Eight Plus Five" countries, held in Potsdam, Germany from 15 to 17 March 2007.

The "Group of Eight" (G8) consists of the industrialized countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States, while the "Plus Five" represent other top global economies - Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

The Ministers reached consensus on the conclusion that mankind's activities are accelerating the climate change process, as stated in a recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said Mr. de Boer. There was a "broad recognition of what science is telling us and the urgent need to act" at the meeting, he added.

The Ministers agreed that it is necessary to reduce emissions and to make countries "climate-proof", meaning to safeguard economies from the inevitable effects of climate change, Mr. de Boer said. They also recognized that "technology is going to be absolutely key", and while many technologies that reduce carbon emissions already exist, "we have to do more, because technology is at the heart of the solution", he said.

The Ministers also recognized that industrialized countries have a number of tools to choose from to reduce emissions, including targets for specific sectors of the economy, measures like efficiency standards for home appliances or automobiles, and taxes on carbon-emitting activities, he continued.

"Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution", said Mr. de Boer, and developing countries are a necessary part of the solution. "They can be helped through the international carbon finance, which leads to investments in developing countries that can help them grow in a sustainable way", he said referring to tools such as the clean development mechanism, under which an industrialized country can gain "carbon credits" towards its own obligations to reduce emissions by investing in a project that will lower carbon emissions in a developing country. The Ministers also recognized the urgent need to help developing countries adapt to the effects of climate change, such as stronger and more frequent storms and rising sea levels.

Preventing deforestation was also high on the agenda of the meeting, said Mr. de Boer, as 20 per cent of emissions from mankind come from that activity.

The meeting is an excellent "hand up" to the G-8 plus 5 meeting of Heads of State in Germany later this year, said Mr. de Boer, who also noticed a will to begin creating a follow-up framework to the 166-member Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement to reduce carbon emissions, set to expire in 2012. He added that South Africa's Minister of the Environment urged others at the meeting to "show courage and to start to negotiate a mandate for what should happen after 2012".