U.N. climate change meeting aims at rich countries - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.N. climate change meeting aims at rich countries
Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:03PM EDT

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The first U.N. special session
on climate change focused on the world's rich countries on
Tuesday, as policy-makers urged long-standing polluters to
shoulder much of the burden for cutting greenhouse gases.

British economist Nicholas Stern said poor and developing
countries also need to participate in a "global deal" to curb
the human-made emissions that swaddle the planet like a
blanket.

Stern, author of a path-breaking report last year on the
economic consequences of climate change, said the global
target for reducing greenhouse gases -- notably the
carbon dioxide released by coal-fired electric plants and
petroleum-powered vehicles -- should be a cut 50 percent
by 2050.

"Because of reasons of past responsibility and better
access to resources, the rich countries should take much
bigger objectives than that 50 percent," he said. "They
should be looking for around 75 percent cuts."

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN3124057820070731