Rich, poor nations divided over climate solutions

Indonesia became the latest developing country Tuesday to offer ambitious plans to combat global warming, and the U.N. climate chief urged wealthier nations to step forward with their own commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Nations are holding two weeks of talks in Bangkok on a climate treaty that would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The treaty is meant to be finalized at a major climate forum in Copenhagen in December.

For months, negotiations have been deadlocked, with poorer nations irked by industrialized countries' refusal to commit to sufficiently deep cuts in emissions or provide billions of dollars to help them adapt to climate change.

U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer told The Associated Press there was growing frustration among developing countries.

"Developing countries are making very significant efforts to show what they are doing to address climate change and indicate what more they are willing to do," de Boer said. "We've had this dragging debate for two years on what further commitments industrial countries can take under the Kyoto Protocol. That debate needs to be brought to a conclusion."

Indonesia, by some accounts the third largest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gases behind China and the United States, said Tuesday it would reduce emissions 26 percent by 2020 and up to 41 percent if it received an unspecified amount of financing. It said the cuts would come through a combination of renewable energy, energy efficiency and reducing deforestation.

"We want to tell the world that although the obligation is mostly on developed countries, Indonesia, being a victim of climate change, would like to do something to prevent it," said Agus Purnomo, the head of Indonesia's delegation.

The draft agreement for Copenhagen calls for poor nations to cut their emissions from 15 to 30 percent by 2020 below what they would otherwise cut, as long as rich countries give them financing.

Most industrialized nations, not including the United States, have offered to cut emissions by 15 to 23 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. That falls short of the 25 to 40 percent cuts scientists say are needed to hold off global warming of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius).

Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, whose nation generates more than 4 percent of the world's greenhouse gases, pledged to seek a 25 percent cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. The European Union has committed to a 20 percent cut and would go to 30 percent if other rich countries follow suit.

The United States has offered much lower targets, with a House of Representatives bill proposing to reduce emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels _ only about 4 percent below 1990 levels _ by 2020. There are doubts whether Congress can pass a bill before Copenhagen.

That has put the United States in a difficult position at the talks. The environmental group Climate Action Network this week bestowed a 'Fossil of the Day Award' to the U.S. _ a dubious honor meant to tag a country blocking progress on combating climate change.