Climate flexibility

French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told the gathering of 17 top greenhouse gas emitters including China, the US, Russia and India that developed nations should aim for cuts of between 25 and 40 percent.

But in a new tack, Borloo said countries such as the United States, which have said they cannot implement such deep cuts by 2020, could contribute to a new climate pact in other ways, for example by financing green technologies for developing nations. This would give such nations the chance to catch up with emission reductions later on.

"There can be more flexibility among us," Borloo told the Major Economies Forum (MEF) in Paris on Monday. "There may be some who act faster and others who do more later.

"There may be constraints on such and such a developed nation - but we must reach this 2020 objective of 25 to 40 percent," he said.

Finger pointing continues

Developing nations led by China and India have accused rich nations of giving their economies greater priority than fighting climate change. They charge that developed countries have not kept their promises to take the lead in cutting the burning of fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases.

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, however, that developing countries were also not ready to commit to decreasing carbon emissions.

"The longer it takes for industrialized nations to have a common position, the longer we will have to wait until China and India move (on climate change)," he said in Paris.

Copenhagen hopes

The MEF was called last month by US President Barack Obama. It is the second of three preparatory gatherings ahead of another climate summit to be held in Italy in July.

The role of the forums is to identify common ground between the world's major emitters ahead of a major United Nations climate meeting in Copenhagen in December.

It is hoped that a new, planet-wide treaty regulating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can be agreed at the December meeting. Any new pact would take effect after 2012, when the current conventions under the Kyoto Protocol are due to expire.

"The world's destiny will probably be at stake in Copenhagen," Borloo said. "Copenhagen is not a retrograde vision, it's not the start of negative (economic) growth, but a new start for strong, sustainable, sober carbon development."

US defense

A US congressional panel last week approved a bill that would cut US carbon emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. The European Union,meanwhile, has pledged cuts of 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 30 percent if other wealthy nations get on board.

Despite the disparity, US officials maintain their country is pulling its weight.

"I don't think it's correct to say that Europe is proposing a lot and the United States little," Todd Stern, US Special Envoy for Climate Change, told Tuesday's edition of the French daily Le Monde.

"If you look at things from the point of view of the progress that each nation will have to make to reach its objectives, the US level of effort is probably equal, or superior, to that of Europe," Stern added.

The Paris MEF is due to run until Tuesday and will also focus on climate financing and the transfer of clean technologies.

dfm/AFPD/AFPE/Reuters

Editor: Susan Houlton