SEOUL: Top US and EU representatives on Monday urged other countries to do more in the global initiative towards a greener planet, stressing the world "cannot afford to wait" at a virtual summit hosted by South Korea. Climate change is a major threat to global growth, with perils ranging from disease outbreaks and declines in crop yields.
But international negotiations on how to tackle it have long been hampered by disagreements over burden-sharing between rich countries that bear far more historical responsibility for climate change and the rising giants that are now among the world's biggest polluters.
Last month, US President Joe Biden announced that the world's largest economy would cut emissions blamed for climate change by 50 to 52 percent by 2030 compared with 2005 levels, doubling the country's previous commitments.
The US' special climate envoy John Kerry told the P4G climate conference hosted by South Korea: "We are pressing other countries to step up their ambitions as well."
Moments earlier Vietnam called for developed countries to take the lead and provide financial assistance to others, but Kerry told Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: "We all have to do it."
After the coronavirus pandemic, he added, "everyone wants to get back to normal but unfortunately we can't be satisfied with that because the fact is normal was already a crisis and existential one."
His comments came as virtual negotiations resumed ahead of the next UN climate change conference in Glasgow in November, with scientists issuing increasingly dire warnings on the situation.
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