Warsaw talks results acceptable but not satisfying: China

Beijing: China, the world`s largest carbon emitter, today said it was not satisfied with but still accepted the results of the climate talks in Poland with the participating nations reaching a compromise to pave the way to a new climate treaty in Paris in 2015.

"There are many issues that we are not satisfied with but we can still accept," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Xie Zhenhua, head of the Chinese delegation at the two-week UN climate negotiations at Warsaw, as saying. Xie expressed disappointment over outcomes of the negotiations on the level of cuts needed, how they should be divided up, and how rich countries should provide USD 100 billion a year by 2020 to help vulnerable countries adapt to the effects climate change. Xie said, "On the surface, the three issues are all solved, but in substance, they are not." Envoys from more than 190 countries and regions reached consensus that all countries should prepare "intended nationally determined contributions" to help cut carbon emissions. That term was adopted after China and India objected to the word "commitments" in a standoff with the United States and other developed countries. "Contributions" is a neutral word, which can be interpreted as either "commitments" made by developed countries or "actions" taken by developing countries, Xie said. He said the developed and developing countries are expected to negotiate over how to interpret the term of "contributions" next year. China was the world`s largest polluter of green house gas emissions figuring above the United States. While some developed countries claimed that China`s greenhouse gas emission in 2015 would be equal to the total of the United States and the EU, Xie said such a comparison is unfair. Contesting these claims, he said, "Our emissions are different from yours, for ours are produced in the process of industrialisation while you are already in the post industrialisation era." He said the developed countries only started to reduce their carbon emission when their per capita carbon emission reached 22 metric tons, while China began to do so when this figure was about six metric tons. Xie said the Warsaw negotiation had laid "a very good foundation" for the Lima talks scheduled next year and the Paris climate change conference in 2015. One of the key demands of developing countries was to let developed countries make funding pledges with specific figures for the Green Climate Fund during the 2013-2019 period. "They just made a decision to agree to continue to pay for the fund during the period, but had made no commitments on when, how and how much this would be paid," Xie said. "In the end, what they did is just painting a pie. On this point, developing countries are really disappointed," he added.