China's pollution to double by 2050; US not to fund emission control costs
10 Dec 2009
The US chief negotiator at the UN climate summit said the US would not hand over money to China and other developing nations to subsidise their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. He also said the developing nations would not be allowed to be exempted from demands that they burn less fuels.
US negotiator Todd Stern said he certainly did not see any possibility of public funds from the US going to China.
Stern's comments served to sharpen the conflict between the developing nations and the US and EU with the developing countries reiterating that rich nations hand over large sums of money, if they wanted the developing nations to rein in carbon-dioxide emissions, which have increased with their growing economies.
The EU has also blamed developing countries for not allowing a full discussion on carbon-dioxide reduction targets with all countries.
Analysts say the climate summit is still in its early days, and the talks so far amount to nothing more than posturing ahead of difficult negotiations. They say, the summit so far has only served to underline the differences in the positions of the two main groups of nations – the US and EU on one side and the group of 77 developing nations led by China and Indian on the other.
Elaborating the US position vis-à-vis the developing nations' proposals, Stern has stressed that the money would mostly go to the poorest nations. Additionally he says developing nations would also have to agree to curb their emissions and accept to make those cuts verifiable.
