Admitting that the US had "sometimes fallen short" in meeting its responsibilities in combating climate change, President Barack Obama today said it and other developed nations will have to take the lead in this fight but the emerging economies should also play their part.
"While we don't expect to solve this problem in one meting, or one summit, I believe we've made some important strides forward," he told reporters after the end of the G-8+5 Summit here, which was also attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"We agreed that the developed nations have a responsibility to take a lead," on climate change, said Obama, describing it as a "historic consensus".
He said the US, which has a "much larger carbon footprint per capita", will also play its part.
"The United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities. Let me be clear, those days are over."
At the same time, he asked the emerging economies, which that rejected specific clean-energy goals, to adopt them soon.
"There is no contradiction between environmentally sustainable growth and robust economic growth," Obama said adding, "We can either shape our future or we can let events shape it for us."
{{/usCountry}}"There is no contradiction between environmentally sustainable growth and robust economic growth," Obama said adding, "We can either shape our future or we can let events shape it for us."
{{/usCountry}}In a major victory for outreach countries like India, the summit agreed on a consensus document on climate change without fixing any goals for emerging economies for halving emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.