Under pressure to boost talks on a new global warming pact, Group of Eight environment ministers on Monday endorsed slashing greenhouse gas emissions in half by mid-century, but failed to agree on much more contentious near-term targets.

The three-day meeting in Kobe was dominated by calls from the U.N., European countries and developing nations to move forward on setting targets for cutting emissions by 2020. Scientists say those targets are needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming.

But the ministers from the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Russia, in a carefully worded statement, mentioned only the need to set such targets eventually. That frustrated environmentalists and some European ministers.

“From a scientific point of view, we need a clear reduction target, because the next 20 years are very vital, very important for climate change and the decisions we make in this process,” said Matthias Machnig, Germany’s state minister for environment.

The Kobe meeting was meant to set the stage for the G8 summit in Toyako, Japan, in July. Tokyo has put climate change at the center of the agenda, and many are hoping for a strong signal from the summit to push forward wider international talks on global warming.

In their statement, the ministers said there was “strong political will” to reach agreement at the summit to cut emissions 50 percent by 2050. The statement also cited the need for global gas emissions to peak within the next 10 to 20 years, and it called on developing countries with rapidly expanding greenhouse gas emissions to work to curb the rate of increase.

“As we head toward the Toyako summit, I believe this meeting has provided momentum,” said Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita.

The ministers also acknowledged developing nations’ demands for help in financing and technology transfer to become more energy efficient, develop their economies more cleanly, and adapt to changes wrought by warming, such as rising sea levels.

The U.N. launched negotiations late last year on a new climate change pact to take over when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012. Negotiators face a deadline of December 2009, when some 190 nations will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Deep divisions, however, have plagued the talks.

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