China blames West's lavish lifestyle for global warming

China insisted Friday that the United States and other wealthy nations should bear the burden of curbing global warming, saying the problem was created by their lavish way of life. It rejected mandatory emissions cuts for its own developing industries.

Environmental activists, meanwhile, labeled the United States and Saudi Arabia the worst "climate sinners," accusing them of having inadequate polices for climate problems while letting greenhouse gas emissions rise. But the activists also said no country is doing enough.

Su Wei, a top climate expert for China's government attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference, said the job of curbing greenhouse gases belongs to the wealthy. He said it was unfair to ask developing nations to accept binding emissions cuts and other restrictions being pushed for already industrialized states.

He said the United States and its fellow industrial nations have long spewed greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while newly emerging economies have done so for only a few decades.

While many experts believe China has surpassed the United States as the world's top emitter of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, Su noted the Chinese population is far bigger and said America's emissions per person are six times higher than China's.

China is one of nearly 190 nations participating in the Dec. 3-14 conference, which is intended to launch negotiations on a new climate treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

Despite Bush administration reluctance, U.S. states and cities could make an American "national commitment" to a new global agreement to cut greenhouse gases, the chief U.N. climate scientist said Friday.

Rajendra Pachauri said the U.S. approach to climate change might be altered by the 2008 presidential election or the combined actions of states and cities.

Pachauri, whose Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared this year's Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, said, "There's much that's happened in the U.S." at congressional, state and local levels.

California last year adopted a sweeping law requiring reductions of about 25 percent in greenhouse gases by 2020. New York and nine other Northeastern states are putting caps on power-plant emissions and developing a system to trade emissions allowances. And just last month, five Midwestern states announced a joint program to reduce emissions.

Pachauri said he saw two paths for the United States.

"One would be, let's say, the U.S. administration committing itself to certain actions," he said. "The other approach would be, independent of what the U.S. administration does, several states in the U.S. and several other entities over there decide to take action on their own, and the sum total of that would amount to a commitment, you could say, equivalent to a national commitment."

ASSOCIATED PRESS