国内英语新闻:Commentary: Developed countries key to success at Cancun climate conference

BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The key to success at the upcoming Cancun climate change conference rests with the United States and other developed countries.

At last year's conference hosted in Copenhagen, developed countries, represented by the United States, failed to make their due commitment to emission reductions, rather, they pointed fingers at developing countries with claims that were groundless.

Further, developed countries hampered the efforts to combat global warming as they shied away from their responsibilities. Without any change in their attitude, chances of a successful Cancun conference will be very slim.

Developed countries bear responsibility, both due to historical and practical causes. Developed countries, as the earliest industrialized nations, have contributed most to the historical storage of carbon-dioxide (CO2). Practically speaking, these countries rank high in terms of per capita emission, and their citizens' extravagant consumption gives rise to unnecessary emissions. Further, developed countries also have the technological and financial capacity to tackle the problem and offer assistance to the developing world.

Historically speaking, developed countries have "sinned" against the world environment when they built their industrial empires on exploiting coal, oil and other natural resources. While they were enjoying the exclusive right to carbon emissions, most developing countries did not even have modern industry and transportation that would produce greenhouse gas emission.

Research done by Beijing-based Tsinghua University suggests that developed countries, home to 23.6 percent of the world population, have contributed 79 percent of the aggregate carbon emissions since the industrial revolution.

Practically speaking, the annual energy consumption of developed countries represents 64.6 percent of the world's total, while CO2 emissions are 65 percent of the world's total. In per capita terms, China emitted 4.6 tonnes of fossil-fuel-generated CO2 in 2007, less than one-fourth of that of the United States, and half of that in the European Union, according to the Tsinghua University research.

Additionally, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that the U.S. ranked top in terms of per capita energy consumption, which is five times that of China. Also, the U.S. remains the world's largest consumer of oil, with a daily demand for crude oil standing at 19 million barrels, doubling that of China.

Further, China's high carbon emissions are partly due to its lack of energy resources. China is short of oil and gas but rich in coal, and carbon-intensive coal represents two-thirds in its entire energy mix.