By DPA
Heiligendamm (Germany) : Leaders of the world's key industrialized nations have agreed a breakthrough deal on combating climate change, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday.
"We have a great success…a major step forward," said Merkel after leaders at a Group of Eight (G8) summit in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm, agreed to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.
The German leader, who is hosting the G8 gathering, said there was agreement that temperature rise this century would be limited to between 1.5-2 degrees Celsius.
No further details of the agreement were available but Merkel said discussions would continue at a key United Nations meeting in Bali in December this year.
The German leader said leaders agreed that the UN provided the correct framework for further talks on climate change.
The agreement is a major victory for Merkel. US President George W. Bush came to the G8 summit refusing to agree to specific targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions.
G8 members include Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, the US, Canada and Russia. The European Commission is also a participant.
Earlier, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters G8 leaders were nearing agreement on a "substantial deal" to combat global warming.
"I think there is a real desire to come together," said Blair, adding that all G8 members – including the US – wanted to be part of a new international agreement on fighting climate change after the 2012 expiry of the current Kyoto Protocol.
Such an agreement would have to include all major polluters, including China and India, he said.
US National Security Advisor Steve Hadley also said he expected the summit to agree to "a goal and a process" for fighting climate change. But no specific targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions would be agreed.
He added that a recent proposal by the US for climate change talks with leading polluters, including China and India, would be "a contribution to the broader United Nations effort" to tackle climate change.
Merkel came to the summit demanding that G8 members commit to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.
She also wanted them to increase fuel efficiency by 20 percent and limit the world's temperature rise this century to 2 degrees Celsius.
Separately, Bush, who is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on the margins of the G8 told reporters the dispute with Moscow over US plans to station elements of a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic was not something "we ought to be hyperventilating about."
The US leader insisted that the US missile defence system was aimed at so-called "rogue states" like Iran and North Korea. "Russia is not an enemy of the US," he underlined.
US-Russia relations have deteriorated rapidly since Putin denounced US "unilateralism" in February this year.
Since then the Russian leader has vented his anger over the US missile defence plan and threatened to withdraw from a key European security pact.
Washington and Moscow also disagree over a United Nations plan for internationally supervised independence for the breakaway Serb province of Kosovo.
But Merkel said Bush and Putin had conducted themselves in a "constructive manner" at the G8 meeting.
The summit will also discuss the future status of the breakaway Serb province of Kosovo, the situation in the Middle East and international efforts to convince Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
Separately, G8 leaders agreed to open an "intensive" and regular dialogue with new economic powerhouses, including China and India.
Bush called for tougher action to end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. "I'm frustrated that international organizations cannot move quickly enough," said the US President.
"If the UN won't act, we need to take action ourselves… Enough is enough in Darfur," said Bush.
Security remains tight in Heiligendamm but on Thursday morning Greenpeace protesters in several inflatable boats forced their way into a marine exclusion zone around the summit venue.
High-speed police patrol boats and inflatable gave chase for 10 minutes. One of the protest boats capsized.
A Greenpeace spokesman said the group had intended to land on the beach outside the luxury summit hotel and hand a petition to Western leaders demanding action on climate change.
On land, police allowed protesters to assemble peacefully for a second day at a fence two kilometres from the G8 summit venue.
The G8 meeting continues on Friday when some of the sessions will be attended by the leaders of South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal.