Developed Countries Must Cut Emissions by 40 Percent.

China - "China said in a document putting forward its demands for December climate talks in Copenhagen that developed nations must cut their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels... China is also asking rich countries to donate at least 0.5 percent to 1 percent of their annual gross domestic product to help poorer countries cope with climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, it said in the document, which was posted on the Web site of the National Development and Reform Commission, the economic policy-making body that governs China's greenhouse gas emissions policy..." [Wall Street Journal]

Xinhua adds that "...As a medium-range target for 2020, developed nations should collectively cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from1990,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular briefing. He continued by saying 'China will, as always, firmly follow the path of sustainable development and make unremitting efforts to deal with the global climate change'..." [Xinhua]

In a related story, Reuters reports that "...The US [under President George W. Bush] set aside the Kyoto Protocol, citing among its reasons that China and other big developing countries did not assume emissions caps. Beijing's latest statement also says that it, and other developing countries, must be allowed to balance efforts to combat climate change with the need to develop. China's own emissions of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, are likely to keep growing until 2035, experts told an official newspaper..." [Reuters]