World leaders avoid setting greenhouse target

TOYAKO, Japan (CNN) -- Leaders of the world's major economies pledged to combat climate change Wednesday -- but they did not set specific targets for reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.

The economic powers -- including several developing nations -- did not go as far in their climate change statement Wednesday as the G-8 did the day before.

The G-8 endorsed the idea Tuesday of halving greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 2050. The larger group of economic powers that weighed in Wednesday did not mention targets for reduced emissions.

"Conscious of our leadership role in meeting such challenges, we, the leaders of the world's major economies ... commit to combat climate change in accordance with our common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities," the leaders said in a statement. Watch world leaders focus on emissions »

The statement came from economic powers that make up the G-8 -- Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- as well as Australia, Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico and South Africa.

The major economic powers met on the sidelines of the three-day G-8 summit in Japan and say they are proposing a balanced approach to dealing with climate change. Watch Tearfund's Peter Grant criticize the G-8 as lacking leadership »

"We support a shared vision for long-term cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions, that assures growth, prosperity, and other aspects of sustainable development," their statement said.

"Taking into account assessments of science, technology, and economics, we recognize the essential importance of enhanced greenhouse gas mitigation that is ambitious, realistic, and achievable." iReport.com: What green steps are you taking?

The leaders said they were uniting under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Ten years ago, the convention passed the Kyoto Protocol with the goal of limiting greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The U.S. was the only one of 175 parties to reject it.

Washington has long argued that emerging economic powers China and India should be required to address their rapidly rising emissions.

U.S. President George W. Bush opposed the Kyoto Protocol because it did not include strict emissions limits for China and India. He said Wednesday's meeting represented a big move forward in addressing global warming.

"We made progress -- significant progress -- toward a comprehensive approach," Bush said. "In order to address climate change, all major economies must be at the table, and that's what we had here today."

During the Bali conference on climate change last year, the U.S. reluctantly signed an agreement calling for two years of additional negotiations on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The Bali pact is meant as a guide for more climate talks, which will culminate in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009.

The EU is already on record wanting an agreement to require developed countries to cut their emissions by 25 to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2020.

The U.S., Japan and Canada oppose those targets.

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