Makuhari (Japan): Disagreements between rich and developing countries came into the open today as the world's top 20 greenhouse gas emitters, including India, worked to lay the groundwork for a new deal on climate change.
The developed and developing countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions account for about 80 per cent of the global total, were wrapping up two days of talks hoped to jumpstart negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
But developing countries voiced scepticism about the meeting, saying they should not be considered in the same league as major industrialised countries when deciding on future cuts to gas emissions blamed for global warming.
"India, for example, has an emission of one tonne per capita. The US is 20 tonnes per capita. So I have no idea why India should be a major emitter," Indian climate official Ajay Mathur said late yesterday.
The South African team was also highly critical of saying the meeting involved "20 major emitters" due to the gap with wealthy countries, Japanese trade minister Akira Amari said.
"I told them it's important that all countries participate in measures to tackle climate change to avoid global warming," Amari told reporters. Former British prime minister Tony Blair opened the conference yesterday with an impassioned call for developing nations to join the rich world in steep binding cuts in emissions for the sake of the planet.
"I was very worried about the atmosphere of the discussion," said Yuri Onodera, an environmental activist at Friends of the Earth Japan.
