TOKYO —

Group of Eight labor ministers will agree to push for environmentally friendly ways of working and to ensure harmony between labor and environmental policies when they meet in the city of Niigata from Sunday, according to a draft statement obtained by Kyodo News on Thursday. ‘‘It is time to recognize the importance of labor issues in the context of harmony with the global environment,’’ said the draft of the chair’s statement, to be issued Tuesday, the final day of the three-day ministerial meeting.

‘‘Governments, employers and workers should value the correlation between labor and the global environment,’’ it said, suggesting that individual workers can contribute by setting office air conditioners at low levels or commuting to work by train, instead of by car. Measures to rectify regional inequalities and to realize a healthy work-life balance were also incorporated into the draft statement.

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