China sticks to its guns on emissions

BEIJING: China said on Thursday it was eager to discuss “long-term” goals on fighting climate change at the G-8 summit but stuck to its position that rich nations must lead on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “We are ready to discuss the establishment of a long-term global goal to cope with climate change including sustainable development, emissions reductions and efforts to tackle climate change,” said Chinese official Su Wei. But Su, head of climate change issues at China’s economic planning agency, repeated Beijing’s position that China and other developing nations were the “victims” of climate change caused by the emissions of developed countries. “Actually, developing countries are innocent and they are the biggest victims of climate change,” Su said in a briefing ahead of the summit. China and the United States are... [read full story]