Developing nations push climate targets

The four nations, Brazil, China, India and South Africa -known in climate talks as the BASIC bloc - released a joint ministerial statement late on Tuesday saying responsibility for the outcome of the latest round of UN climate talks in Doha lay in the hands of rich countries.

Ministers reaffirmed that the Kyoto Protocol remains a key component of the international climate regime and that its second commitment period is the key deliverable for Doha, and the essential basis for ambition within the regime, they said.

They added that rich nations must produce more ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which fall far short of what scientists say are needed to avoid runaway climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol, the only international treaty to set legally binding targets on cutting greenhouse emissions, expires at the end of the year. Around 30 European nations and Australia have signalled they are ready to take on new targets.

But major emitters such as Canada, Japan, Russia and the United States will not take part, saying the U.N. pact will have no environmental impact until it imposes similar targets on large developing nations, including China and India.

China and India are the world's biggest and third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, respectively.

A report released this week by the World Resources Institute, a U.S. think tank, showed two-thirds of the world's

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