By Eleanor Momberg
Greenpeace has called for massive public pressure to demand that the world's wealthiest nations take decisive action on climate change.
The call came as G8 leaders emerged from two days of climate talks in Italy without reaching agreement on firm commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ahead of December's UN climate change talks to finalise a post-2012 climate regime.
Greenpeace activists on inflatable boats marked the failure to agree by painting the message "G8: FAILED" on the side of a coal ship - which had loaded its cargo in Richards Bay - in Civitavecchia, near Rome.
The painting of the protest note on the side of the ship marked the culmination of a week of Greenpeace protests in the US, Russia, France and Italy, calling on the G8 to set conditions for reaching a climate-saving agreement at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December.
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In Italy this week, more than 100 activists occupied, painted, blocked and hung off cranes at five Italian coal-fired power stations, pointing to coal as the world's worst climate killer, and calling for G8 leadership to address climate change.
Reports from L'Aquila, where the world's most powerful leaders met this week, indicated that the divide between rich and developing nations on how to address climate change had become clearer at the summit, showing how difficult it would be to persuade the world to make the lifestyle and economic sacrifices needed to save humankind from global warming.
While both sides said for the first time that global average temperatures should not rise more than 2ºC, they did not set joint targets to reach that goal.
And, significantly, the G8 made no firm commitment to help developing countries financially cope with the effects of rising seas, increased droughts and floods, or provide the technology to make their carbon-heavy economies more climate- friendly.
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