Leaders of Japan and the European Union have called for "highly ambitious and binding" global targets to fight climate change.

Leaders said the G8 summit of rich nations - to be held in Japan in July - must be a real moment of breakthrough on greenhouse gas emissions.

The Kyoto Protocol on carbon emissions runs out at the end of 2012.

The annual meeting in Tokyo also called for urgent action to cope with rising world food prices.

The joint statement was issued by European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Prime Minister Janez Jansa of Slovenia, the current EU president. ... Read full article