G8 climate goals not credible: Brazil official

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - Brazil's chief climate negotiator criticized the Group of Eight rich nations on Thursday for not taking more forceful steps to curb global warming, saying proposed long-term targets were meaningless.

The G8 agreed on Wednesday at its annual summit to support a goal of cutting global emissions by 50 percent by 2050 and of reducing emissions in wealthy countries by 80 percent.

"Without a very clear intermediate goal, with a number, there isn't credibility for a long-term number," Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado told reporters, adding such a plan risked passing the burden to future generations.

He called for developed nations to cut their emissions by up to 40 percent by 2020. By contrast, developing nations like Brazil would commit themselves to reducing their rate of growth, he added.

"What the developing countries are in agreement on, in the medium-term, is that there be a significant alteration in the (upward) curve in emissions. That is, they're going to continue to grow, but at a much slower rate," he said.

"And why are they going to grow? Let's imagine (Brazil's) government brings electricity to a rural region, that means we have a million more refrigerators, a million more radios, all of this is emissions."

(Writing by Phil Stewart; editing by Crispian Balmer)