World leaders tried to inject momentum into climate change talks today but new proposals by China and a rallying cry from US President Barack Obama did little to break a United Nations deadlock.
Mr Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, leaders of the world's top greenhouse gas polluters, had hoped to help foster efforts to forge a new global warming treaty two and a half months before a December deadline.
Speaking at a special UN climate change summit in New York, Mr Hu laid out a new plan to tackle China's emissions, tying them to economic growth. But he did not include specific figures, which he could be withholding for future negotiations.
Mr Obama outlined his administration's work on climate since he took office in January and said the United States was committed to act.
But Mr Obama offered no new proposals and did not urge quick US Senate passage of a climate change bill, which many observers see as crucial to reaching an international deal.
"It is really more of a step back than a step forward," said Thomas Henningsen, climate coordinator for Greenpeace International, citing the lack of specifics in Mr Obama's speech.
The one-day summit drew nearly 100 heads of state and government before official talks among 190 nations in Copenhagen in December to forge a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out at the end of 2012.
Talks leading to the December 7th-18th meeting have put developed and developing countries at odds over how to distribute emissions curbs. Poorer nations are pressing richer ones to contribute hundreds of billions of dollars a year to help them cope with rising temperatures.
Mr Hu said China's new plan included vigorously developing renewable and nuclear energy and promised emissions would grow slower than economic growth in the future.
"We will endeavor to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by a notable margin by 2020 from the 2005 level," Mr Hu said, according to a text of his remarks.
The pledge, which marked the first time China has said it will accept measurable curbs on its emissions, was seen as an attempt to counter critics, especially in Washington, who say Beijing is doing too little.
Mr Obama said the United States had done more over the eight months of his presidency to reduce carbon pollution than at any time in history and urged all nations to act together.
"Our generation's response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it -- boldly, swiftly, and together -- we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe," Mr Obama said.
"The time we have to reverse this tide is running out."
Activists and analysts, while welcoming certain aspects of both men's speeches, expected more.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pledged to offer more aid to help developing countries deal with climate change and repeated his goal of reducing Japanese greenhouse gas emissions 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.
Europeans, who had welcomed Mr Obama's commitment to fight climate change as a positive development after his predecessor, George W Bush, have grown impatient.
A climate change bill mandating cuts in US emissions is unlikely to be passed by the US Senate by December while other domestic issues, notably healthcare reform, dominate the agenda.
Mr Obama did not mention the Senate in his speech.
Reuters