Edited excerpts of editorials about this week's G8 summit in Japan:

Financial Times (U.K.): For proof that the G8 has outlived its usefulness, one need look no further than the inability of the world's richest democracies to forge an agreed global strategy for tackling climate change. The refusal by China and India to endorse its proposed cuts in carbon dioxide emissions renders this week's G8 summit in Japan pointless. Any notion a club of eight nations could run the world -- never plausible -- is now so discredited as to call into question the value of all its declarations.

World leaders have since Monday talked about global warming, rising food and oil prices, African poverty and the financial strains of the global credit squeeze. But what use is a "shared vision" of cutting carbon emissions without the endorsement of the developing world's fastest-growing and biggest polluters? How is it possible to pronounce on inflation and try to tame soaring oil prices without the involvement of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude oil producer? And who in the G8 has the influence or power to isolate Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, when no African nation is present?

Times of India: It is time for the group to take a reality check and modify itself in keeping with the times. That means opening the doors of the club to increasingly influential members of the world community like India, China and Brazil.

If Europe can account for half the group, why cannot Asia -- where the future seems brightest in the medium run -- has more of a say? At least one U.S. presidential hopeful -- John McCain -- supports an expansion of G8 to include India and Brazil.

British foreign secretary David Miliband has said it may be time to include an African nation in the UN Security Council. Now, that's forward thinking.

New York Times: Summits are usually about vague promises and good intentions, and this one was no different. The final agreement establishes no interim goals that would require prompt and meaningful investments in cleaner energy. Many scientists believe cuts of at least 25 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 are necessary to prevent emissions from reaching a point of no return.

China and others made it clear that mature industrial economies like the U.S. and Europe -- whose per capita emissions greatly exceed those of the developing world and who have contributed the most to the man-made emissions already in the atmosphere -- must do most of the heavy lifting. They warned they could not move forward without significant capital investment from the West.

This was tough talk but not without a certain historical justice. Unfortunately, without the full participation of China, India, Brazil and other fast-growing economies, there is no hope of stopping and reversing global warming.