We are greener than you - No you're not !

Suspicions among nations hold back climate pacts

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Ministers meeting on solutions to energy efficiency, cuts carbon emissions and global poverty do not trust each other enough to come up with concrete measures by Friday, diplomats say.

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland said the current annual meeting of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, the key U.N. intergovernmental body on the environment, was hampered by a "deep-rooted lack of trust."

"Many industrialized countries believe that the developing countries are unwilling and that they are doing too little," she told the conference on Wednesday.

Reuters Pictures

Editors Choice: Best pictures
from the last 24 hours.
View Slideshow

The United States, which has not committed itself to mandatory caps on greenhouse gases, looks to China and India to do so first. But China wants the United States to make a major commitment, like the European Union has done, saying its emissions of carbon dioxide, a by-product of burning fossil fuels, is far below that of the United States on a per capita basis.

"Many developing countries believe the industrialized world has defaulted on the promise of financial and technical assistance," Brundtland said. "Many countries are concerned with costs and competitiveness and many are reluctant to undertake obligations that others will escape."

Brundtland headed a U.N. environmental commission that in 1987 developed the concept of sustainable development.

Developing nations also fear that progress in environmental programs would be at the expense of development. A U.N. report timed to the meeting warned that growth of biofuels like ethanol was resulting in higher food prices by diverting corn for fuel. Continued...

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.