Brazil and France call for climate concessions

France and Brazil joined forces yesterday to press the US and China to make significant concessions at next month's climate change summit in Copenhagen.

In a joint document, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil urged rich industrialised countries to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 80 per cent from their 1990 levels by 2050.

They called on emerging countries to seek low carbon growth, with help from richer countries, and to take steps to slow the rate at which their greenhouse gas emissions rise by 2050.

Just before the meeting in Paris, Brazil pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by between 36.1 per cent and 38.9 per cent, largely by controlling deforestation in the Amazon region, a decision hailed by Sarkozy.

"This is the first emerging country to take a decision of this nature," he said at a joint news conference.

Lula told reporters the document signed with Sarkozy was "more than a declaration of intent, it is a climate bible" and the two leaders said the US and China had to show more boldness in accepting commitments at Copenhagen.

US President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Hu Jintao, whose two countries are the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, are due to meet next week to seek common ground on climate change.

But as the deadline for the December 7-18 climate change meeting in Copenhagen approaches, both Sarkozy and Lula said they could not be allowed to settle matters between themselves.

"We cannot allow President Obama and President Hu Jintao to celebrate an accord which only takes the economic realities of their two countries into account," Lula said.

He said he would telephone Obama tomorrow to discuss the joint Franco-Brazilian initiative as part of a diplomatic offensive in which he and Sarkozy will try to drum up support before the Copenhagen summit.