Last-minute breakthrough in the U.N. climate talks, with an accord reached without much help from the United States:
The United States had been portrayed as the stubborn villain of the meeting all week. Blame for the final dispute was also laid at America’s doorstep.
“You can’t expect us to have national mitigating actions without technology support from outside, without financing from outside and without capacity building from outside,” said Kapil Sibal, head of the Indian delegation.
He blamed the United States, specifically, for trying to block any obligation to help developing countries. “They don’t want to give us any technology support,” he said.
The Indian position reflected one of the central themes raised by developing nations at the meeting — that the United States and other wealthy countries had caused global warming with their profligate use of energy and now expected less-developed countries to curb their industrialization to prevent the problem from getting worse.
