Environment ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized nations pledged to cut emissions of gases blamed for global warming by half by 2050 and called on rich countries to lead the way.
``In order to halve global emissions, developed countries should take the lead in achieving a significant reduction,'' the ministers said in a joint statement at the end of a three-day meeting in Kobe, Japan. The statement didn't specify by how much the countries should cut emissions or whether developing nations would be expected to meet targets.
The meeting was part of efforts to come up with a successor to the 1997 Kyoto climate treaty, which expires in 2012. The G-8 nations want to clinch an agreement at a July environment summit in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, according to the statement.
``Setting long-term targets is a realistic approach as we all need time to develop technologies and know-how to drastically cut global emissions,'' said Kuniyuki Nishimura, research director of the global warming division of Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc., one of Japan's leading industrial think tanks. ``We shouldn't set unrealistic, binding targets for an unrealistically short period of time.''
Rich nations should provide technical and financial assistance to poor countries to enable them to fight global warming, the ministers said.
World leaders agreed in Heiligendamm in Germany last year to ``seriously consider'' slashing global output of greenhouse gases by half by 2050.
