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It's make or break time for climate deal
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-20 10:27

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Meanwhile, most offers are conditional on what others do. The European Union (EU), for instance, has said it will cut unilaterally by 20 percent and by 30 if other nations join in. Australia's 2020 offer ranges from 3 to 23 percent from 1990.

Su Wei, head of the Chinese delegation to the negotiations in Bangkok, said some developed countries adopted "passive attitude" in combating climate change at the talks.

He said developed nations neither offered satisfactory plans on their own emissions cut, capital and technological transfer to developing countries, nor responded positively to developing nations' suggestions on these aspects.

It's make or break time for climate deal

Two weeks ago in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, people on motorbikes waded through floodwaters caused by heavy rainfall. Sea levels rising because of global warming, along with increased storminess as the climate changes, will expose millions of people in the world's port cities to coastal flooding, says a report issued yesterday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. [AP] 
President Hu Jintao has announced that China will "notably cut" its carbon intensity for per unit of economic output by 2020 but didn't specify the goal. It is expected that China will finalize a goal at the Copenhagen summit.

Blaming the EU for disregarding the basic structure of the Kyoto Protocol, India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said it was now up to the EU to build trust between rich and developing nations after the Bangkok talks.

In Bangkok, the US team urged other rich countries to join it in setting up a new legal agreement which would, unlike Kyoto, force all countries to reduce emissions and the EU sided strongly with the US in seeking a new agreement.

China and many developing countries immediately hit back stating that the protocol, the world's only legally binding commitment to get countries to reduce emissions, was "not negotiable".

Reuters and the AP contributed to this story

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