TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe headed for the Group of Eight summit in Germany on Tuesday pledging to take the initiative in the fight against global warming.
"The European Union and the United States still remain divided" over their positions on global warming, Abe said ahead of his departure.
"That is why Japan has to take the initiative to lead all the countries in one direction that they can basically accept," he sad. "I feel that is our important responsibility."
Abe will take part in a Japan-EU summit in Berlin and then participate in his first G8 summit to be held in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm, where climate change is expected to top the agenda.
Japan, the host nation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, has tried to take a high profile in the fight against climate change in line with its aspirations for greater global clout.
Abe called ahead of the summit for all nations to accept in general to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
But Japan has rejected a German proposal to set a 2009 deadline to close negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol's successor, saying it would be premature before major emitters such as the US, China and India come onboard.
"We are proposing a goal to halve greenhouse gas by 2050. I think the reactions from other countries are basically good so far," Abe said. "I think at the summit we will be able to exchange frank opinions in a good atmosphere," he added.
