The group also called on Denmark, chair of the climate conference, to convene a series of meetings this year to begin discussions on a legally binding climate deal ahead of a conference in Mexico in December. Facing a Jan. 31 deadline, major countries have yet to submit their plans for reducing emissions of climate-altering gases, one of the major provisions of the agreement. Fewer than two dozen countries have submitted letters, saying they agree to the terms of the three-page accord. There has been virtually no progress on spelling out the terms of nearly $30 billion in short-term financial assistance promised to those countries expected to be hardest hit by climate change. Basic questions about who will donate, how much, where the money will go and who will oversee the spending remain unresolved. China, Brazil, India and South Africa called on developed economies to begin handing over the $10 billion pledged in Copenhagen to poor countries to deal with the effects of climate change. The first funds should go to the least developed countries, including small island states and African countries.

After Copenhagen Conference, the basic four continued efforts in helping shape the agreement in New Delhi to review the Copenhagen agreement and plan for the next phase of talks. Without a commitment to such plans, pledges by large polluters in the developing world to cut emissions, a major accomplishment at Copenhagen, will have been thwarted. Therefore, before the climate conference steps into Mexico, the UN has proposed three principles regarding negotiations. Firstly, information transparency and openness, meaning it's incorrect to hold closed-door meetings and exclude other countries. Secondly, all decisions from the closed-door meetings should be back into assembly meeting in time in order to obtain the consent of all nations. Thirdly, all nations should be allowed to make a choice according to their own conditions. It's absolutely necessary to have exchanges and communications on finance and technique and aspects of carbon emissions. Whether or not all countries do in fact decide to respect these terms remains to be seen.

It is critical for the United States and other major emerging economies to formally agree their pollution-reduction targets in the accord. It will depend on how countries treat that deadline. The success of the accord hinges on the creation of a rigorous and enforceable system of monitoring and verifying emissions-reduction programs. The accord calls for such a system, but does not provide details.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/node_7079734.htm