The top U.S. climate envoy accused China on Friday of trying to undermine the commitments it made to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the latest round of international climate change talks, Reuters reported. Todd Stern said China, which has overtaken the United States as the largest emitter of climate-warming gases, must honor pledges it made in last year's Copenhagen Accord and the developing nation must be treated like other major polluters, according to Reuters. Chinese negotiators "have acted almost as though the accord never happened, insisting on legally binding commitments for developed countries and purely voluntary actions for even the emerging markets," Stern said in remarks prepared for a speech at the University of Michigan. Under the deal, China set a target to cut the amount of carbon produced per unit of economic output by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels. This "carbon intensity" goal would let emissions keep rising but more slowly than economic growth. The comments by Stern, special climate change envoy for the U.S. State Department, come less than two months before the next high-level climate change meeting in Cancun, Mexico.
