Japan on Wednesday urged emerging economies whose emissions of greenhouse gases have been on the rise to "play a responsible role" in the global fight against climate change, stressing the need to establish "a truly fair and effective international framework" to curb global warming.
State Foreign Secretary Yutaka Banno said in a speech at a symposium in Tokyo that it is necessary to "duly reflect the basic structural changes under way in the international community" in designing a post-Kyoto Protocol framework to combat global warming beyond 2012.
"Developed countries accounted for 65 percent of global emissions in 1990, but that percentage had decreased to 49 percent by 2007 and it continues to decline," Banno said. "Developed countries need to take the lead in tackling climate change, but at the same time emerging economies are expected to play a responsible role."