Brazil calls US climate proposal insufficient

The U.S. proposal on climate change is insufficient and could lead other rich countries to adopt less ambitious negotiating positions, Brazil’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

Brazil has been seeking to take a leadership role at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen this week and will propose an ambitious 40 percent reduction of projected 2020 greenhouse gas emissions.

Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said that the proposal by some European countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent was “reasonable.”

But the U.S. proposal could lead other rich countries to pursue less aggressive emissions cuts in Copenhagen.

“They want to hide behind the position of the United States, which says it will reduce by 17 percent but not over 1990 levels as the Kyoto Protocol foresaw but over 2005 levels,” Amorim said during a radio interview.

“Despite the goodwill of (U.S. President Barack) Obama … the United States wants to be treated like a developing nation,” Amorim said.

Poor countries are expected to adopt small or no binding emissions cut at the Copenhagen summit.

“The challenge is avoiding having other rich countries — Japan, Australia, Canada — hide behind that attitude and want be treated like a developing country,” Amorim said.

Targets should reflect industrialized nations’ historically high emissions levels, Amorim said.

Scientists say greenhouse gas emissions from human activities like the burning of fossil fuels contribute to climate change that could have dangerous consequences in many parts of the world.

Todd Stern, Obama’s special envoy for climate change, said on Wednesday that the United States did not owe the world “reparations” for centuries of carbon pollution.

Stern promised “robust” negotiations and said the United States would contribute to a rich-country fund aimed at helping developing nations deal with climate change problems.

Brazil is seeking financial aid for itself to adopt climate mitigation measures but countries poorer than Brazil should receive the bulk of the aid, Amorim said.