Japan, U.S. Seek to Divide Developing Nations at Climate Talks
Japan and U.S. seek to separate developing countries, such as China and India, into a different category in order to apply emissions cap and targets to these countries. From Bloomberg:
China, with an economic boom and no emissions limits, is expected to replace the U.S. in 2008 as the world’s biggest air polluter. That’s spurring calls for it to join Japan, Britain and other developed nations that already have greenhouse-gas caps.
“In the developing countries there are no targets, and there are more than 100 countries,” Takiguchi said in a telephone interview from Tokyo. “The world has changed, so we need more categories, and we propose differentiation.”
Japan’s proposal to the United Nations, which is not formally endorsed by the U.S., would divide the developing world into three groups: countries most vulnerable to climate change, such as small islands at risk of rising sea levels; an intermediate group; and the most-polluting of the developing nations. The last group would be forced to slash emissions based on pollution per capita or per unit of economic output, Takiguchi said, without naming specific countries.
However, China has rejected carbon emissions caps according to ClimateBiz:
China has long rejected emissions caps and was exempt from the Kyoto Protocol, a point of contention for the U.S., which pulled out of the treaty. A United Nations meeting will take place in Poland in December that is part of the ongoing negotiations on a climate change treaty that will succeed Kyoto. There is also a U.N.-backed conference in Beijing this month to promote the exchange of green technologies, the Wall Street Journal reported.
While China admits to its emission contribution, it demands developed countries to provide technologies and resources in the fight against climate change according to the follow CDT articles here and here.
