Climate talks between US, China break down

[FT News]

The slow pace towards compromise between the two biggest emitters of world greenhouse gases is likely to discourage others from making concessions at pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Bonn

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[forum_admin]

China and the US failed to achieve a breakthrough at their latest round of climate talks on Wednesday raising the stakes in the global effort to fight world climate change.

The two countries responsible for 40 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions ended three days of negotiations in Beijing.

While there are still months to go until the December meeting in Copenhagen, where 181 countries, led by the United Nations, plan to work out a new climate pact, the two biggest emitters’ glacial pace towards compromise is likely to discourage others from making concessions during a pre-Copenhagen round of negotiations under way in Bonn, which is set to wrap up on Friday.

Todd Stern, US president Barack Obama’s special envoy on climate change, and his delegation tried hard to sound optimistic when they ended their China visit but could hardly conceal that little had been achieved.

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