$145 a barrel and rising as G8 leaders get set to discuss world crisis

SOARING global food and energy prices and international concern at the nuclear plans of renegade states Iran and North Korea are set to dominate the G8 summit when it gets under way today.

The three-day summit in Japan will see world leaders discuss how best to address the unprecedented cost of oil after a price of a barrel rose to $145 last week.

The bloodshed and political unrest in Zimbabwe and the failure to hit a target from the G8 summit in Gleneagles, in 2005, to boost aid to Africa will also be on the agenda.

The annual event will be the first attended by Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, and the eighth and last for the US president George Bush, whose term of office ends in less than 200 days.

Mr Bush, speaking yesterday as he arrived in Japan, said North Korea had not fully addressed US concerns about its nuclear activities. Last week the Communist state provided information, but suspicions remain about uranium enrichment, a process in creating nuclear bombs.

The G8 is due to issue a "strong message" condemning both North Korea, which withdrew from the worldwide treaty on the proliferation of nuclear weapons five years ago, and Iran, which has faced United Nations sanctions since resuming uranium enrichment two years ago.

Mr Bush said: "North Korea did provide a declaration of its plutonium- related activities and did blow up the cooling tower of its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. That's been verified and is a positive step, but there are more steps to be taken."

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said G8 leaders would discuss how to increase pressure on Robert Mugabe following the disputed presidential elections that left him clinging to power in Zimbabwe.

Mr Brown last week repeated his belief that Mr Mugabe had blood on his hands after using violence to steal the election from the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. The White House said it believed leaders would "strongly condemn" the Zimbabwe regime in their official communique.

Mr Brown has warned that rich nations must not abandon their commitment to tackling climate change and world poverty because of tougher economic conditions.

Amid fears that previous pledges on aid to Africa and carbon emissions could scaled back, he insisted they should in fact be accelerated.

British officials are looking for the countries to make a "reaffirmation" of aid promises made at the Gleneagles summit to double development aid by 2050. They want poor countries encouraged to develop their agriculture sectors so they can feed themselves. But there is also recognition that African countries must keep their side of the bargain by rooting out the "cycle of coups, crises and corruption".

Yasuo Fukuda, the Japanese prime minister, who is chairing the summit, has committed the G8 to greater efforts to tackle climate change. "Global warming is a huge challenge and humanity has no time to lose," he said.

The summit is being held on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. There will also be debate on the question of whether the use of land to grow biofuel crops – to reduce dependency on oil – has driven up food prices.

At Westminster, the UK government will today publish the Gallagher review into the effect of biofuels alongside ministerial plans for the way forward. Japan believes biofuel production is compromising the supply of food, but that view is not shared by the US.

Delegates will get to test-drive the latest technology

US PRESIDENT George Bush said it all: he is looking forward to battery-powered vehicles looking more like cars than "golf carts".

That future will be visible for all to see – and for world leaders to test-drive – during the three-day G8 summit in Japan this week, which will showcase the country's status as being at the forefront of technology that does not rely on fossil fuels nor emit greenhouse gases.

All seven main Japanese car-makers are providing demonstration vehicles, including the Toyota FCHV-adv, which uses a nickel hydride battery and can travel more than 500 miles on a tank of hydrogen gas.

Honda FCX Clarity cars, which are powered by hydrogen fuel cells, are ferrying the delegates between meetings. However, the nearest hydrogen filling station is 13 miles away due to security concerns.

Security guards have been getting in on the act too – they patrol the grounds around the conference area in Hokkaido on Segway two-wheeled battery-operated scooters.

Visitors to Japan frequently return with tales of the extraordinary controls on the lavatories, from heated seats to a choice of music to accompany each visit. At the G8 summit, even the loos take on a "green" dimension, using up to 31 per cent less water than normal appliances by employing new types of flush. The lids even pop open at the wave of a hand.

A visitor to the summit travelling from Singapore would need to spend £125 offsetting his or her "carbon footprint" of 2.7 tonnes. This would be done by buying three trees, which would negate the carbon in 30 years.

The Japanese government is planning to offset the total expected emissions from this week's summit of 25,000 tonnes, according to a spokeswoman.

IN NUMBERS

8
members of the G8: UK, USA, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Russia and Japan. However the EU is represented by the Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, which is why there are nine seats at the top table.

20,000
security agents and riot police guarding the world leaders.

5,000
journalists in Japan covering the three-day event.

4
occasions the summit has been held in Japan previously. The years were 1979, 1986, 1993 and 2000.

1975
when the first summit was held.

62
President George Bush marked his birthday yesterday.