Tokyo (PTI): Group of eight leaders will ask major emerging economies like India and China to adopt actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "in an indicative range below business as usual," Japanese media reported on Sunday.

The G8 leaders meeting from July 8-10 in L'Aquila, Italy, will urge major emerging economies such as China and India to adopt actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "in an indicative range below business as usual," where countries employ few measures to cut emissions, by a specified year, says the draft declaration, a copy of which was obtained by Kyodo News.

The leaders from the eight industralised nations will also agree to launch a public-private green technology fund for developing nations as part of efforts to curb global warming, according to the draft of declaration, it said.

"We reconfirm our strong commitment to the UNFCCC (U.N.Framework Convention on Climate Change) negotiations and to the successful conclusion of a global, wide-ranging and ambitious post-2012 agreement in Copenhagen, involving all countries, developed, emerging and developing, consistently with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities," the draft says.

The draft says the G8 leaders will urge "all major economies" to share the goal of halving emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by 2050, repeating similar language to that used in the G8 leaders' statement issued at last year's summit in Hokkaido, Japan.

Similarly, the draft makes no reference to numerical emissions reduction targets for developed countries for 2020, a move that would spark criticism from developing countries and environmentalists that rich countries are not doing enough to lead global efforts to address climate change.

The draft also fails to spell out specifics on an envisaged "Public-Private Technology Programme" to co-fund investments in green technologies in developing countries, such as the size of the programme, the timing of its launch and its financial resources.

Emissions reduction targets for industrial countries for 2020 and mitigation actions by emerging economies are a major focus of U.N. negotiations for a successor to the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The talks are scheduled to conclude at a key U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.

"We will take the lead in accelerating the transition towards green and sustainable growth, including the creation of new jobs," the draft says. "The costs of inaction (to cope with global warming) far outweigh the costs of moving towards low-carbon societies."

Japan recently said it will slash emissions by 15 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020, or an 8 per cent cut from 1990 levels, a target that environmentalists argue is not ambitious enough to lead the fight against climate change.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso says Japan's 2020 reduction target is deeper than those of the European Union and the United States.

The 27-nation EU is aiming to slash emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels, or 13 per cent from 2005 levels.

President Barack Obama has pledged to bring U.S. emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020, effectively meaning Washington will rein in emissions by about 14 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends that developed countries as a group reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020, or by more than 30 per cent from 2005 levels.

Along with climate change, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States are expected to focus on the world economy, development, food security and regional issues of common concern such as Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea at the upcoming summit.