Merkel made an appeal for progress in the fight against climate change as she visited the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto, 10 years after negotiators here reached the landmark treaty on curbing emissions.

The German leader has suggested that future climate deals impose requirements that factor in each country's population, in the hope of bringing on board populous China and India.

"I don't think that emerging countries should be allowed to emit CO2 without limits in line with their economic growth, to the point that their per capita emissions surpass those in Japan, Germany or the United States," she said.

"So emerging countries will have to set target figures for cutting CO2 sometime in the future, if not now," she said at the end of a week-long visit to Japan and China.

The Kyoto Protocol mandates that signatory industrial nations slash carbon emissions.

The United States and Australia refused to ratify the treaty, saying it was unfair as it made no demands of rapidly-growing countries such as China, which is set to surpass the US as the world's top gas emitter.

"Now CO2 emissions in the United States stand at 20 tonnes annually per person, that in the EU is nine tonnes and in China the figure is 3.5 tonnes," Merkel said.

"So industrial nations first have to make efforts in cutting gas emissions, but in order to resolve the climate change issue, it is inevitable to cooperate with emerging countries," she said.

Merkel has made climate change a key focus of the German presidency of the Group of Eight rich nations. The Kyoto Protocol, which she helped negotiate a decade ago, expires in 2012.

Merkel hosted the last Group of Eight summit in June at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm which set a non-binding goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

"It is necessary for us to show a clear direction regarding what we will do in 2012 and onwards," Merkel said. "We need to set the target figures for the global CO2 emissions in 2012 and after."

She called for industrial nations to help out emerging economies, in part by offering energy-efficient technology.

Merkel, who pressed China on human rights during her visit to Beijing, also called for emerging nations to play a greater role in global governance.

"It is natural to think that any talks on resolving global challenges require involvement of countries such as China and India -- each of which has more than one billion people," she said.

"When I visited China, I said the issue of global warming cannot be addressed with efforts by Europe only, and Japan's cooperation is not enough either. I said cooperation by other countries, including China, is necessary." she said.

"There are so many things that we have to do as there are only five years left for us to realise the targets" agreed in Kyoto, she added.

The Kyoto deal requires industrialised countries to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent between 2008 and 2012 compared with their 1990 levels.

Japan is far behind in meeting its own targets for cutting gas emissions as its economy enjoys a steady recovery from the recession of the 1990s.

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