The New York Times reports that U.N. climate negotiations being held in Tianjin are at a standstill due to the U.S. and China’s failure to reach agreement:
Marred by an atmosphere of mistrust, negotiations have made limited headway as the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases blamed each other for holding up talks.
The chief American negotiator, Jonathan Pershing, said he was disappointed by the resistance of China and other developing nations on a major issue: allowing monitoring and verification of their efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
“We have made very little progress on the key issue that confronts us,” Mr. Pershing said. “These elements are a part of the deal. The lack of progress on these gives us concern about the prospects for Cancún.”
Mr. Pershing’s Chinese counterpart, Su Wei, hit back, saying developed countries had failed to commit to substantial reductions in carbon emissions while making unfair demands of developing nations. He accused the United States of using the monitoring issue to try to avoid its own responsibilities on cutting emissions and providing financing and technology to poor countries.
