The leaders of the world's industrialized and several developing nations concluded a summit in Japan on Wednesday, promising to bring about deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Leaders of G-8 nations also agreed to develop and deploy clean energy technologies through increased research and development.But behind the upbeat rhetoric of the G-8 meeting, which took place in Japan, was a clear lack of hard targets and specific commitments that would actually guide any climate action plan, according to the New York Times.

The summit yielded several important developments. Participants endorsed the idea of cutting global greenhouse-gas emissions in half by 2050. China and India, the largest developing nations, were recruited for the talks. They and other developing countries received a promise that rich countries would take the lead in curbing emission

But Time points out that the G-8 refused to set short-term emissions-cut targets. The group didn't even specify which base year it would use as the starting point for cutting emissions in half — either 1990, the year used for the Kyoto Protocol, or the present day.