Rich-poor split

Late Tuesday, China slammed the EU, the US and Japan for not aiming high enough on emissions cuts. Chinese chief climate negotiator Su Wei told reporters in the Danish capital that "developed countries shoulder a historical responsibility," and that they should "take the lead to reduce their emissions by a large margin."

Su criticized Washington's offer of a three percent carbon reduction over 1990 levels by 2020 as neither "remarkable or notable" and said an EU pledge to cut emissions by 20 percent in the same period was "not enough."

The Chinese comments came against a backdrop of outrage triggered by a leaked "draft political agreement" which developing countries say is heavily weighted against them.

The document, drawn up by the Danish government, drew condemnation from the G77 group of emerging nations. Head of the bloc, Sudan's Lumumba Stanislas Dia Pin described it as a "serious violation that threatens the success of the Copenhagen negotiating process."

He told reporters that the G77 members would not walk out of the negotiations because they could not afford a failure in Copenhagen, but added that they would not sign up to an "unequitable deal."

"We can't accept a deal that condemns 80 percent of the world population to further suffering and injustice," he stressed.

Sounding out opinion

As well as proposing that all parties should "support the goal of a reduction of global annual emissions in 2050 by at least 50 percent versus 1990," the nine-page draft document suggests a date for emissions peaks for developing countries.

But China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, said it was too early to talk about peak levels.

Conference chairwoman Connie Hedegaard urged calm among delegates. She said the paper dated November 27 was not a "secret draft" and that different negotiating documents would be "used for testing various positions."

tkw/dpa/reuters/AFP
Editor: Trintiy hartman