Apparently the
G8 leaders have pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2050. In making the pledge that does not need to be honored for 42 years, the G8 has learned its lesson from the 2005 Gleneagles summit. While in Scotland, they pledged to double aid to sub-Saharan Africa by 2010. As that date approaches, and skepticism mounts about whether they will achieve their target, suddenly
the promise looks a little bit hollow.
Environmentalists are unimpressed with this pledge, but as a political scientist I find these long-range promises surprisingly rare. Politicians should love making these kind of pledges, because, in theory, they can lock in preferences long after a leader has left the stage. If nothing else, breaking this kind of promise does exact some modest cost on the future leader who has to make the reversal.
Readers are hereby encouraged to submit a pledge that the G8 should promise to fulfill by the year 2100. The pledge should be smart policy but such a dead-bang political loser that there is, literally, zero chance of it being implemented in our lifetime.
I'll start: the G8 should pledge to remove all migration restrictions -- regardless of the country of origin -- by the year 2100.
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