PARIS — Talks among major carbon emitters aimed at speeding negotiations towards a new pact on climate change ended Friday after making some headway but failing to remove roadblocks ahead of a summit in July. ‘We achieved a consensus on the need for long-term and medium-term goals for reducing greenhouse-house gases… but we have not quantified targets at this stage and we regret this,’ said France’s secretary of state for European affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet. The two-day talks in Paris gathered ministers from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States. The 16 economies account for around four-fifths of global output of greenhouse gases — the carbon pollution, stemming mainly from fossil fuels, that traps heat from the Sun and is damaging Earth’s climate system. Launched by US President George W. Bush last September, the so-called Major Economies Meetings (MEMs) aim at fast-tracking negotiations towards a new UN pact on climate change by the end of 2009. The process also looks at how to enlist smart technology and energy-intensive industries to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. MEM leaders are to meet on the sidelines […]