Developed nations urged to honor climate pledges

The BASIC countries yesterday urged developed nations to fulfill their obligations in emission reduction in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

The BASIC nations of China, India, Brazil and South Africa issued a joint statement at the ministerial-level meeting in Tianjin, right after the close of the week-long meeting of UN climate change talks over the weekend, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The weekend witnessed the latest tension between developing countries and developed countries, as both groups parted ways without any agreement on the right way to handle climate change policies.

China, for example, is uncomfortable with having its emissions measured, while US president Barack Obama failed to bring in any broad legislation to limit greenhouse gases.

Su Wei, China's chief negotiator, told Reuters that US criticism of China's failure to agree to binding emission targets was similar to Zhubajie, a humanoid pig in a classic Chinese novel, which is said to spend its time preening itself in a mirror.

"It has no measures or actions to show for itself, and instead it criticizes China, which is actively taking measures and actions," Su said of the US, reiterating China's view that no deal will be possible until the US agrees to more ambitious emission-reduction targets.

However, the top US negotiator, Jonathon Pershin, accused China of reneging on the Copenhagen Accord by failing to agree to binding emission tar-gets backed by an international monitoring regime.

The Times of India featured the standoff as a "climate war," with the US demanding that emerging economies should allow a strong regime of international scrutiny of their mitigation actions.

"Under the Copenhagen Accord, the developing countries, especially the BASIC four, had already made a compromise and allowed international consultation and analyses of their domestic actions funded by their money," the paper said.

It further refuted that developing countries are not obliged to submit their actions for international scrutiny, as only the rich countries are required to do under the Kyoto Protocol, which the US has never signed.

"China is not very impressed by what the US is doing," Bloomberg quoted Alden Meyer, director of policy at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists, as saying.

China has been clearer on the steps it will take to meet its target by 2020 than the US, Meyer said, adding that the latter is on Obama's pledge to meet the 17 percent cut without legislation.

Despite the rift, diplomats said there were positive signs in Tianjin that an agreement could be reached at the upcoming Cancun Summit next month in Mexico.

Agencies