Beijing Slams Europe Emissions Effort

Climate Envoy Decries 'Big Disparity' Between Commitments and Action on Warming, Taking Tough Stance as Summit Nears
By SHAI OSTER
BEIJING -- China's top climate envoy lashed out at Europe for failing to meet its previous greenhouse-gas commitments, and said reaching an agreement at the global warming summit in Copenhagen next month is essential.

"Europe made a lot of commitments. But if you compare those commitments to actions, there is a big disparity," China's special envoy on climate change, Yu Qingtai, told reporters Wednesday. He said Europe had failed to meet its previous promises to cut greenhouse gases and deliver on technology transfer and aid to poor countries.
Mr. Yu's comments reinforce China's tough negotiating stance less than two weeks ahead of the Dec. 7 global climate summit in the Danish capital. China has repeatedly called for a global agreement on carbon emissions, but has been unwilling to commit to the kind of difficult sacrifices needed to reach one, saying the burden lies on wealthier nations.
Global climate negotiators had hoped to make Copenhagen a key turning point in two-year-long talks over the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which is set to expire in 2012. That goal appears to be slipping as obstacles appear insurmountable in the coming days and negotiators are pointing fingers at each other.
Getting agreement between China and the U.S., which together account for 40% of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions, is crucial to the success of climate talks.

China says the rich countries of the world have an obligation to clean up the carbon they produced, even though China has already surpassed the U.S. as the world's biggest polluter. China has proposed that developed nations contribute 1% of gross domestic product to subsidize efforts by poorer nations to cut carbon emissions, a proposal rejected as unrealistic by the U.S.
China says accepting carbon caps would force it to accept poverty. "We cannot accept that Chinese people would have one-third the emissions of the developed countries," Mr. Yu said. He blamed the lack of progress in talks so far on developed countries. "Admittedly, we spent a lot of the past two years on marginal issues," he said. "Personally, I think it was because of the lack of faith by developed countries in the negotiations."
China has unilaterally taken measures to try to increase energy efficiency and energy security -- measures that have helped to slow the pace of growth of China's greenhouse-gas emissions. According to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, China's energy consumption targets would contribute a quarter of what needs to be done globally to limit carbon emission and slow global warming.
In September, President Hu Jintao promised a reduction in the amount of carbon emissions relative to economic output by a "notable margin." But China has declined to define that margin or make its targets part of an internationally binding treaty.
Mr. Yu said China "will work together with the international community to ensure that Copenhagen is a success."
Write to Shai Oster at shai.oster@wsj.com