Climate Delegate: Developing Nations Have Key Role

The head of the Chinese delegation to the UN climate talks refuted the notion that developed countries are the only ones contributing to global emission reductions.

"It's not right to say only a few developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol contribute to mitigating climate change." Xie Zhenhua said Sunday at the climate change summit in Durban, South Africa.

Developing countries are committed to 57 percent of the amount of emission reductions after the 2009 conference in Copenhagen, while developed countries are only committed to 43 percent, Xie said.

Signed in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol is the only legally binding document in the world that commits a number of developed countries to reducing emissions that contribute to global warming.

The European Commission recently called for and asked all countries — both under the Kyoto Protocol and those outside its present scale — to share the burden of emission reductions by agreeing to a reductions timetable.

Xie said developing countries have started to increase their contributions to address climate change.

To curb emissions growth, China has made a legally binding five-year plan aiming to reduce its amount of carbon emitted per unit of gross domestic product by 17 percent by 2015.