The European Commission will push members of the Group of Eight industrialized countries to equal the European Union's commitment to fighting global warming when the G8 summit opens in July in the hot-spring resort of Toyako, Hokkaido, a senior EC official said.

Claiming the EU has set an ambitious goal on climate change, Joao Vale de Almeida, a G8 summit "sherpa," or personal representative of the EC president, said he will call on other members to take their share of responsibility.

"No one can win this fight alone," Vale de Almeida said in an interview with The Japan Times. "We need a collective effort by the international community. Nothing will happen without clear leadership by the G8 countries."