G-7 leaders agree to strive for low-carbon economy

Group of Seven leaders vowed Monday to wean their economies off carbon fuels and supported a global goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but they stopped short of setting binding targets.

In a communique issued after their two-day summit in Bavaria, leaders of the G-7 — the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., Italy and Japan — said they backed reducing global greenhouse gas emissions at the upper end of a range of 40 to 70 percent by 2050, using 2010 as a basis. The range was recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations' climate-change panel.

They also supported a global target for limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 3.6 Fahrenheit compared to preindustrial levels.

"We commit to doing our part to achieve a low-carbon global economy in the long-term, including developing and deploying innovative technologies striving for a transformation of the energy sectors by 2050, and invite all countries to join us in this endeavor," the communique read.

G-7 host Angela Merkel of Germany, once dubbed the climate chancellor, appeared to try to revitalize her green credentials by getting the G-7 nations to agree to specific emissions goals before a larger year-end United Nations climate meeting in Paris.

The leaders, however, stopped short of agreeing to any such immediate binding targets. Environmental lobby groups nonetheless welcomed the direction of their agreements.

"They've given important political signals, but they could have done more, particularly by making concrete national commitments for immediate action," said Sam Smith, leader of the WWF Global Climate and Energy Initiative.

The Europeans had pressed their G-7 partners to sign up to legally binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S., in particular, has been reluctant to set such targets. President Barack Obama has said he will make climate change a pressing policy goal in his second term but has found little interest from a Republican-controlled Congress.

Many U.S. legislators are skeptical of policy efforts to deal with the effects of climate change or deny the scientific consensus that it is being caused by human activity.

Al Jazeera and wire services