U.S. President George W. Bush unveiled a long-term strategy on climate change Thursday, urging 15 major nations to set a global emission goal.

According to Bush's most sweeping proposal on the issue to date, the United States will work with other nations to establish a new framework on greenhouse gas emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, though the United States never signed that agreement.

The list would include the United States, China, India and major European countries. Bush proposed that by the end of next year, America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases that spur global warming.

To help develop this goal, the United States would convene a series of meetings of nations that "produced most greenhouse gas emissions, including nations with rapidly growing economies like India and China," Bush said in a speech laying out his agenda for the coming G8 summit in Germany.

The first of these meetings will begin in the fall of this year. "The United States takes this issue seriously. The new initiative I am outlining today will contribute to the important dialogue that will take in Germany next week," said Bush.

However, in negotiations before the G8 summit, Washington rejected setting targets to reduce greenhouse gases, championed by other participants.

Germany is proposing a target, where global temperature would be allowed to increase no more than 2 Celsius degrees before being brought back down. That could lead to a global reduction in emissions of 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

The United States has rejected that approach. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush wants each country to develop its own plan.