Tokyo: Japan praised a climate accord reached by G-8 leaders as a ''major achievement'' on Friday, and urged India and China to join the fight against global warming.
Leaders from the Group of Eight developed countries, holding an annual summit in Germany, clinched a broad agreement on Thursday to try halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – a proposal the European Union, Japan and Canada had lobbied for.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki praised the agreement as a ''major achievement,'' saying Japan had played a prominent role in shaping the consensus.
''We regard this agreement as a major achievement for Japan,'' Shiozaki said.
He said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ''made an active contribution to the building of consensus at the summit.''
However, the agreement steered clear of mandatory cuts, and only urged nations to ''seriously consider'' halving the emissions by 2050.
Questions remain about whether developing nations that are major emitters, such as China and India, could be brought on board.
Shiozaki said there is still much to do in winning over nations that resist numerical targets, and called on China and India to carefully study the G-8 initiative.
''Since all of the G-8 leaders have agreed on a process that includes all major emitting nations, we will need China and India to seriously consider this agreement,'' Shiozaki said.
G-8 members are Japan, the United States, Germany, Russia, Britain, Italy, France, and Canada.
Japan will host next year's summit, to be held at the Lake Toya hot spring resort on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido.
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