China, the top greenhouse gas emitter, urged rich nations on Thursday to do more to lead the fight against climate change and help avert heat waves, floods and rising sea levels.
In a submission to the United Nations before a March 10-14 meeting of governments in Germany, Beijing called on developed countries to make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and increase aid to help the poor tackle global warming.
They should "take the lead", it said in a document that highlighted its deep differences with the United States despite promises of greater cooperation between the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.
Beijing said developing nations were doing most to curb rising world greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming. "Their contribution to global mitigation efforts is far greater than that by developed countries," it said.
Jennifer Morgan, a climate expert at the World Resources Institute think-tank, said the Chinese submission showed that few nations were yet willing to compromise in talks meant to end with a global U.N. deal at a summit in Paris in late 2015.
Senior government negotiators will meet next week in Bonn to try to sketch out elements of a U.N. deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 pact that obliges only the developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The United States and other developed nations say that emerging economies must also adopt clear carbon targets.
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