The Group of 77 and China on Monday criticized industrialized countries for their attempt to "shift responsibility of addressing climate change and its adverse effects on developing countries."

Speaking on behalf the Group of 77 and China at the inauguration of the UN Climate Change Conference, Ambassador Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim, head of the Sudanese delegation, said there is "a huge gap in developed countries leadership in modifying their longer-term trends in anthropogenic emissions" as required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"On the contrary, developing countries are now being required to take the leadership in cutting emissions while developed countries are continuously increasing their emissions and hence continuously over-occupying the global climate space," he said.

The developing countries also reject developed countries' objective of "concluding another legally binding instrument that would put together the obligations of developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol and similar actions of developing countries."

"This would revoke the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and historical responsibility under the convention by imposing these obligations as well on developing countries under the guise of a 'shared vision,'" said Ibrahim.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, developed countries have committed to reducing their emissions by an average of 5 percent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.

Pressure was mounting for developed countries to commit to ambitious targets on cutting emissions and funding for developing nations after 2012.

The Sudanese delegation head lamented that the existing international financial architecture has failed to deliver sufficient resources to address the threat of climate change and called on partners to ensure the operationalization of an effective financial mechanism under the convention.

Ibrahim said the Group of 77 and China would work to make the Copenhagen conference "a real success that enables full comparability for the commitments of all developed countries and enable developing countries to undertake effective actions to respond to climate change and its devastating impacts, now, up to and beyond 2012."

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2009)