The task of drafting a joint strategy for the world’s eight richest nations to tackle climate change passes to their leaders on Wednesday after top negotiators failed to reach a compromise at a meeting on Tuesday.

The failure of the so-called Group of Eight sherpas to agree on a communiqué for the central issue of this week’s summit means that, instead of discussing pre-negotiated documents, the leaders are set for a direct confrontation at Heiligendamm, the luxury resort on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast that hosts the annual get-together.