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NEWS OF THE WEEK G-8: GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS MUST STOP RISING CLIMATE CHANGE: Countries commit to modest climate goals O N JUNE 7, the leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations agreed that "global greenhouse gas emissions must stop rising" and that this leveling off in emissions "must be fol- lowed by substantial global emissions reductions." Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and out- going U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair had been urging the other G-8 members to commit to a mandatory 50% reduction in global emissions from the 1990 level by 2050. In the final communiqué, the G-8 agreed to seri- ously consider that target. The G-8 group—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Ja- pan, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S.—also acknowledged that "the United Nations climate process is the ap- propriate forum for negotiating future global action on climate change." They committed to negotiate a new global accord by the end of 2009 to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. The new agreement should include all major emitters, the group said, which means that large developing countries, such as China and India, also should participate. Before the agreement was § reached, European leaders had been | afraid that President George W. £ Bush would try to undermine the £ UN process by convening 14 of the m world's top emitters of greenhouse > gases this fall and developing a o climate-change pact. On May 31, he had announced a plan to hold such a conference of major industrialized and developing nations in the U.S. Many European leaders praised the G-8 climate-change agreement. Blair called the pledge "a major, ma- jor step forward." But environmental activists and some members of Congress called the agreement meaningless. Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said, "President Bush rejected every solid proposal on the table to cut global warming pollution, and the U.S. is fundamentally isolated from the rest of the world on the issue once again." Clapp is referring to the continued reluctance of the U.S. to commit to mandatory targets and specific timetables. Democratic lawmakers echoed Clapps's views. "It's clear that when it comes to global warming and the G-8, the U.S. has taken a singular position that leaves it outside the larger parade toward action," said Rep. Ed- ward Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence 8c Global Warming.—BETTE HILEMAN G-8 summit attendees include (from left) Bush, Blair, and Merkel. HIROO INOKUCHI WINS KYOTO PRIZE HIGH HONORS: Japanese chemist will receive $410,000 for pioneering work on molecular electronics C HEMIST HIROO INOKUCHI, 80, has won the 2007 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology for his fundamental contributions to organic and molecular electronics. He will receive a gold medal and a cash gift of approximately $410,000 during a Nov. 10 ceremony in Kyoto, Japan. Inokuchi, professor emeritus at the University of To- kyo and the Institute for Molecular Science of Japan's National Institutes of Natural Sciences, pioneered research on electronic processes in semiconducting organic molecules, such as rubrene andj?-terphenyl, and demonstrated that such molecules could serve as useful materials for electronic components. Inokuchi also studied charge transport in organic semiconducting molecules, developed ultraviolet photo- electron spectroscopy for organic thin films, and demon- strated the catalytic activity of some organic materials. Inokuchi says he is happy that his work has been "in- ternationally appreciated at last." He points out that he began his studies of organic compounds 60 years ago, when he was 19 and a college sophomore. "He was doing this kind of work long before the field became very active," says Ananth Dodabalapur, a pro- fessor of engineering at the University of Texas, Austin. Dodabalapur says Inokuchi has been semiretired for several years, and he's not surprised that Inokuchi's name is not more widely recognized. "You've got to delve into the subject in some detail to come across his work," Dodabalapur says. "He did a lot of the unglamor- ous work, the real hard science. But many of the things we now take for granted, if you dig back far enough, you'll find that Inokuchi was one of the first to look into it." Inokuchi tells C&EN that he is still working to dis- cover novel organic semiconductors. This year's other winners of the Kyoto Prize are geophysicist Hiroo Kanamori of California Institute of Technology and German choreographer and artistic director Pina Bausch of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. The Kyoto Prize is given in the categories of advanced technology, basic sciences, and arts and phi- losophy to recognize people who have contributed sig- nificantly to the betterment of mankind.—LINDA WANG Inokuchi WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG ]C JUNE 18, 2007
