U.N. and China OfficialsSay Outlook for Climate Action Worsens

The chief U.N. climate negotiator warned that growing global financial problems could threaten efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions, while China’s top climate change envoy said he was “fairly pessimistic” that industrialized and developing nations could agree on a new pact to slow global warming. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said economic woes could force governments to spend less on controlling greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously making it harder for companies to find the resources to tackle the problem. Meanwhile, Yu Qingtai, China’s top representative to climate change talks, said industrialized countries had done little to transfer funds or technology to developing countries to help them lower greenhouse gas emissions. He said talks between the two blocs over the role each must play in combating climate change have been “extremely difficult” and that he is unsure progress can be made at the next major round of global climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009.