APEC retreats from C02 target, Brazil pledges cut

By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asia Pacific leaders backed away on Saturday from supporting a global halving of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, even as Brazil pledged deep cuts of its own over the next decade.

An initial draft leaders' statement from an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore had said that "global emissions will need to ... be reduced to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050."

But a later, watered-down version stated: "We believe that global emissions will need to peak over the next few years, and be substantially reduced by 2050, recognizing that the timeframe for peaking will be longer in developing economies."

APEC includes the top two greenhouse gas emitters -- China and the United States -- and its meeting is the last major gathering of global decision-makers before a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in three weeks, meant to ramp up efforts to fight climate change.

Its retreat may further dampen hopes that the Copenhagen meeting can yield a legally binding framework to stave off dangerous levels of global warming that scientists say threaten to bring rising seas and more droughts, heatwaves and floods.

Arguments over targets have been a key stumbling block in U.N. negotiations and at other forums, such as the G8.

BLAME GAME

Developing countries blame wealthy nations for most of mankind's greenhouse gas pollution to date and say the onus should be on them to make major reductions first. Some fear that committing to ambitious targets would choke their economic growth and prevent them catching up with richer states.