Welcome to our climate policy liveblog.  This is a live feed from our twitter account @_climatico_

9:04:06 AM: Today is the first day here at the #G8 Summit. Things are buzzing and the internet and twitter are finally working!

9:13:12 AM: The Chinese premier Hu last night returned to China to deal with the rioting http://bit.ly/13TTd8

9:14:09 AM: Much of the negotiations on climate change have already happened and so it is unlikely that this move will jeopardise the talks

9:21:44 AM: Reuters last night announced that the draft #MEF text does not mention halving global emissions

9:23:53 AM: China and India were opposed to signing up to any cuts without developed nations first committing to deep 2020 targets. http://bit.ly/1HUqS9

9:25:48 AM: Last year the G8 committed to halving global emissions by 2050 (no baseline specified), so they have failed to convince the #MEF of this

9:27:59 AM: This represents a major setback in the run up to the Copenhagen climate conference in December.

9:34:56 AM: Negotiations must move fast now to reach a deal at #COP15. The UN has invited leaders to an unprecedented summit in Sept http://bit.ly/lt9N3

9:37:36 AM: With Hu absent, it is unlikely that the #MEF will be able to renegotiate the 2050 emissions target, hence why it was dropped from the draft

10:05:27 AM: Thus it is possible that the only climate policy success will be a commitment from the #G8 to prevent a 2C temperature rise

10:06:12 AM: Just finished a half hour interview with AFP on the draft MEF communique, sorry for being away. Will let you know when it’s up.

10:25:55 AM: @WSJ and others now confirming that numerical targets are being dropped from the MEF as expected

10:35:11 AM: So much for Brown’s carrot of a £100bn adaptation fund http://bit.ly/Q3Ecp

10:38:29 AM: EU press conference is currently happening with good discussion of climate policy

10:38:29 AM: EU press conference is currently happening with good discussion of climate policy

10:40:38 AM: EU are pushing for: 80% cut from developing countries by 2050, emissions reverse and fall ASAP, and 50% reduction of emissions by 2050

10:47:47 AM: @NutmegVideo sorry, YouTube appears to be blocked from within the #G8 Summit so I can’t view your video now

11:29:59 AM: G8 Summit Climate Policy Live Blog – Day 1: 9:04:06 AM: Today is the first day here at the #G8 Summit. Things ar.. http://rly.cc/Qr1WI

Stay tuned for when the climate change communiqué is released later tonight

Welcome to our climate policy liveblog.  This is a live feed from our twitter account @_climatico_

8:59:08 PM: Our Italian #G8 hosts have banned access to Twitter from the Summit so you can access out full liveblog from http://www.climaticoanalysis.org

8:59:39 PM: Reuters have a good summary of where the #MEM is on the climate communique. http://is.gd/1ql1E

9:04:36 PM: The Major Economies Meeting (MEM) has in fact now been renamed to the Major Economies Forum (MEF).

9:08:48 PM: The #MEF met in Rome today in an attempt to break the deadlock on a commitment to half global emissions by 2050.

9:33:20 PM: India remains opposed to adopting an emissions target. Thus the #MEF may focus on committing to prevent a temperature rise of more than 2C

9:40:22 PM: Avaaz are currently organising a mass action and campaign asking Japan, Canada and Russia to sign up to the 2C target. http://bit.ly/32Bj8

9:44:39 PM: Updated: @avaaz now say that Harper is leading the opposition against the 2C commitment

9:46:25 PM: The Summit itself has been a bit of a shambles thus far with internet not working in the media centre for most of today

9:54:04 PM: Washington has even been organising Italy’s “Sherpa calls” in an attempt to ‘inject purpose into the meeting.’ http://is.gd/1qosD

9:59:10 PM: Obama will also be chairing the climate change negotiation on Thursday, which the UN and Denmark (COP15 hosts) will also be invited to

10:00:27 PM: http://is.gd/1qoQE

10:04:10 PM: That’s a rather interesting article that we’ve been discussing here at the G8 Research Group. Why do you think it was leaked?  I’ll discuss our theories here tomorrow.  Good night for now and see you tomorrow when the Summit begins.