The head of the United Nations's scientific panel on climate change has said the developing countries, including India and China, are unwilling to sign up a new global climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol in 2012 as the rich world has failed to set a clear example on cutting carbon emissions.
Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said too many rich countries, including the United States, had failed to take the action needed to convince the developing nations to sign up to a deal in Copenhagen in 2009 that could help to stabilise global emissions.
"You may not be able to get an agreement in one shot, let's say by Copenhagen, that sets you on the path of stabilisation in keeping with some kind of long-term target," Pachauri was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
He said, "Looking at the politics of the situation, I doubt whether any of the developing countries will make any commitments before they have seen the developed countries take a specific stand".
Pachauri, who is also director general of the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, India, said, "I don't think they (China and India) will come on board in the first round. I think they would like to see some level of ambition on the part of the developed countries before they make any voluntary commitments of their own".
Pachauri said that while Germany was setting a positive example and Britain was doing 'quite well', there were still 'reasons for dismay' at many rich countries' failure to cut their carbon emissions.
In 2007, Pachauri, an economist and environmental scientist, collected the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC, which it won jointly with former American vice-president Al Gore.
Pachauri said there was still time for the developed countries to convince India and China to sign a new deal in 2009, but that it would require a series of 'measures and actions' in the next few months.
He urged other rich countries to follow Europe's lead and set ambitious carbon reduction targets for the next 10 years. He said more money was needed to help poorer countries adapt to the likely impact of global warming, as well as 'some tangible efforts to make technology transfer a reality'.
