The Group of Eight leaders gathering next month in Hokkaido should not attempt to resolve all climate issues up to 2050 or even 2020, but instead focus on setting a clear course for an agreement at next year's U.N. conference in Copenhagen, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday in Tokyo.

Speaking in advance of the July 7-9 G8 summit in Toyako, Blair said the international community is "not going to get an agreement" from the meeting because the positions of the major economies remain too far apart.

The present task for the G8 should therefore be to establish work plans for an agreement in Copenhagen next year, and to begin "a process that will then undergo revision and adjustment as our knowledge improves and the facts become clearer," he said.