Climat : les ministres du G8 s’accordent sur l’objectif de 2050[en] 

"We strongly expressed the will to try to come to an agreement at the Toyako summit so we can have a target of at least halving emissions by 2050," said Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita at a press conference during the meeting, held in Kobe, Japan.

The G8 countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the United States – are scheduled to meet from 6-8 July in Toyako (Hokkaido), Japan. Climate change will top the agenda of the summit, and leaders have said they will try to use the occasion to give a boost to ongoing international climate change talks. 

But "without a mid-term target, a mandatory mid-term target for developed countries, it's going to be very complicated to get an agreement" at key UN-led climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009, said Matthias Machnig, Germany's secretary of state for the environment.

The EU and a number of developing countries are also calling for interim targets for developed states, rather than merely a long-term target for 2050. 

Japan, which is falling behind in meeting its CO2 emissions reductions targets as agreed under the Kyoto Protocol, is wary of fixing precise interim targets, however. Meanwhile the US and Russia have expressed their opposition to any kind of binding emissions reduction targets, whether in the near or long term. Moscow and Washington prefer investments in clean technologies, rather than targets, to reduce emissions. 

The divergence of views has cast doubts over whether the Toyako summit will produce any binding declarations or commitments on behalf of the G8, with the US also re-stating its position over the weekend that a deal is unlikely without similar emissions reduction pledges from China and India.

Despite the disagreements, which are reflected in the wider international climate change negotiations launched in Bali in December 2007, the views of the EU and Japan may be converging with respect to the use of sectoral agreements for certain industries deemed overly susceptible to competitive pressures from a tighter global greenhouse gas emissions regime (EurActiv 24/04/08).