Rich countries criticised for lack of leadership on climate change

ELITSA VUCHEVA

14.04.2008 @ 09:27 CET

Rich countries are failing to set a good example for developing countries on tackling climate, the head of the United Nations' scientific panel on climate change has said.

According to Rajendra Pachauri, many developed countries have failed to lead the way and do what is necessary to make the developing nations commit to a new global climate change pact - set to be signed next year.

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"Looking at the politics of the situation, I doubt whether any of the developing countries will make any commitments before they have seen the developed countries take a specific stand," Mr Pachauri told the Guardian in an interview published on Monday (14 April).

"In several developing countries you get the feeling - in fact people state it very clearly - that these guys [rich countries] are going to shove the whole burden on to our shoulders. That's why it's necessary for the developed world to establish a certain credibility," he added.

The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pointed specifically to the US as failing on this but gave Germany some praise for its significant investment in renewable energy, and said the UK has done "quite well".

Global talks on a new climate change pact have begun with the aim to get a signed deal by the end of 2009. The new deal would replace the current Kyoto protocol on climate change which expires in 2012.

The Kyoto protocol was signed in 1997 and entered into force in February 2005 with the objective of reducing the negative effects of climate change by stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

So far, 175 countries have ratified the protocol, of which 36 developed nations which have committed to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to a certain level.

However, the US – the world's largest single emitters of carbon dioxide – has not ratified the treaty.

For its part, the EU recently agreed to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

Mr Pachauri urged other countries to follow Europe's initiative and also set ambitious targets for carbon cuts.

China and India, two of the fastest-growing economies and seen as essential signatories for any climate deal if it is to have an impact, "would like to see some level of ambition on the part of the developed countries before they make any voluntary commitments of their own," he said.

Mr Pachauri also underlined that more money was needed to assist developing countries' adaptation to the possible impacts of global warming, as well as "some tangible efforts to make technology transfer a reality."