Tokyo - Leaders of the world's richest nations only managed to evade responsibility over global warming, while failing to discuss the core issues of global financial turmoil, Japanese media reported Wednesday.

A number of newspapers gave credit to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, host of the Group of Eight (G8), for bringing consensus between the European Union and the United States in an agreement on long-term targets for emissions cuts.

But several editorials also criticized G8 leaders for not clearly stating what each country would do to meet such targets and for refusing to specify targets for 2020.

On the second day of their summit in Toyako, G8 leaders agreed to "consider and adopt" the goal of achieving at least a "50-per-cent reduction of global emissions by 2050."

Winning over the backing of the United States could pave the way for success at next year's United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen, Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun said in its editorial.

Despite the big achievement, the paper was still disappointed that the G8 had failed to set an official international goal for the 2050 target.

Mainichi Shimbun, a liberal daily, called the statement on climate change "vague."

Japanese business daily The Nikkei also criticized the outcome of the climate talks: "Global warming is more threatening than to call the agreement on the long-term goal a 'progress' when it has no legal binding."

On the global economy, The Nikkei questioned how summit leaders could remain positive without discussing structural problems in the US economy, which the newspaper blamed for current global financial turmoil.

The paper quoted Japanese officials' excuse for the lack of serious discussion concerning the global economy, saying that G8 leaders "are no economists." The annual meeting was called "The Economic Summit" when it began in 1975, the paper noted. (dpa)