Emerging economic powerhouses must join international efforts in the fight against global warming, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Monday. Barroso's comments came as the world's leading industrialized nations were finalizing preparations for a Group of Eight (G8) summit in the Baltic coastal resort of Heiligendamm, Germany, on June 6-8, dpa reported. "Global warming needs a global response," Barroso said. International efforts to tackle climate change could only succeed if fast developing emerging economies were coming on board, he stressed. China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are participating in the G8 meeting which was planned to clinch agreement on tough new targets for combating global warming. The EU had given a lead in the fight against climate change, Barroso stressed. "Now the G8 needs to give a strong signal that the whole world can pick up," he said in a statement. G8 members are Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States, Canada and Russia. The European Commission, the EU's executive body, is also represented at all G8 meetings. Barroso said that "a globally binding, enforceable and differentiated system with carbon trading at its core" must be agreed by 2009 to replace the current Kyoto accord on climate change which expires in 2012.
