EU urges big polluters, rich and poor, to 'get real'

The EU urged the world's biggest polluters to "get real" on fighting climate change on Wednesday and said all large economies had to play their part.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said a meeting in northern Japan of leaders of the world's 16 biggest economies on global warming had allowed "a useful and wholly constructive exchange of views".

"We have to get real," Mr Barroso said in a statement.

"It is quite wrong to see this in terms of a confrontation between developed and developing countries. Of course we accept the lion's share of responsibility but this is a global challenge, which requires a global response."

The 27-nation EU, seeking to lead the global fight against climate change, agreed last year to cut its emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 20 per cent by 2020, compared with 1990 levels. Earlier the Group of Eight rich nations and major emerging economies including China and India said they supported a "shared vision" for action on climate change, including a long-term goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

They also said they recognised the need for "deep cuts" in global greenhouse gas emissions to fight global warming. But they stopped short of urging numerical targets for those reductions.