Swedish Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren on Monday said that global climate talks were progressing too slowly and warned there was no backup plan if UN environment talks in Denmark this year failed to reach agreement.
"We have no plan B," said Carlgren on the meeting slated for December in Copenhagen.
Carlgren, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, told a press conference in Beijing, "The EU really wants to speed up the negotiations."
He said quarreling between developed and developing nations was slowing progress on measures to combat climate change.
At the Copenhagen conference, a new agreement on climate change is expected to replace the Kyoto Protocol that set limits on greenhouse gas emissions for developed countries, but is to expire this year.
Carlgren said developed countries should lay out more ambitious plans and medium term targets on emissions, but the developing states also "had to make significant contributions" to prevent climate change.
"We are on this boat together," he said.
He said he saw positive changes and heard "promising words" on further measures from senior Chinese officials in Beijing.
Carlgren also said "some important differences" existed between the EU and China on climate change, but he believed they would reach consensus.
(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2009)
