Tianjin was the fourth round of climate talks since last December's climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, which failed to reach an agreement that included legally binding emissions.

Negotiators in Tianjin still couldn't agree on how to allocate the $30 billion "fast start fund" pledged by wealthy countries in Copenhagen to help the developing world respond to climate change.

The Tianjin negotiations were also overshadowed by a continued rift between the United States and China over the issue of emissions. The United States accused China of undermining the Copenhagen Accord and China said that no deal would be possible until the United States agrees to more ambitious emission reduction targets.

China, the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases, announced last year plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

Yet U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres expressed optimism for Cancun.

"This week has got us closer to a structured set of decisions that can be agreed in Cancun. Governments addressed what is do-able in Cancun and what may have to be left to later," she said at a news conference after the six-day Tianjin meeting. "I understand there is disappointment with the multilateral process but this issue is not easy."

In the past, India had closely coordinated its stance on most issues with China. But analysts say that India, in this round of talks, failed to take a leading role in negotiations, a significant contrast from the Copenhagen summit in which it was a key player, along with the United States, China and Brazil.

"The talks have looked like a show going on between China and the U.S., with everyone else hiding behind the drama," Yang Ailun, Greenpeace China's head of climate and energy told The Hindu.

However, ministers from the BASIC group of developing countries -- Brazil, South Africa, India and China -- met Monday to evaluate the progress of the Tianjin talks.

They want to ensure that any climate agreement includes provisions that would restrict any attempts by developed nations to impose trade penalties on carbon emitters.

In advance of that meeting, Indian Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said that "there is no light at the end of the tunnel" and the prospect of a binding deal being reached in Cancun was out of the question, The Hindu reports.

earlier related report
UN climate change body discusses reform in Busan
Seoul (AFP) Oct 11, 2010 - Hundreds of researchers at a UN global climate change body met in South Korea on Monday to discuss reform after embarrassing errors in a landmark report dented the organisation's credibility.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) started a four-day session in the city of Busan with some 400 participants, including chairman Rajendra Pachauri and representatives and researchers from member countries, a Korea Meteorological Administration spokesman told AFP.

The agenda for the closed meeting includes renewable energy sources, how to manage natural disasters and recommendations to reform the IPCC, the administration said in a statement last week.

"The (reform) discussion is a very important agenda to determine the future directions of IPCC operations, and the result will receive great attention from the international community," said the statement.

Pachauri and the IPCC came under criticism after the panel admitted its landmark 2007 report exaggerated the speed at which Himalayan glaciers were melting.

The group admitted its mistakes but insisted its core conclusions about climate change were sound.

A five-month probe ordered by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the IPCC should have a stronger scientific basis for making its predictions and recommended an overhaul of the position of Pachauri.

The controversy fanned debate in the scientific community on whether concerns over climate change are exaggerated.

But the panel still has a role to "take action for adaptation to climate change" that is "getting more and more difficult to manage", South Korea's Environment Minister Lee Maan-Ee said in an opening speech.

"I believe it is scientifically clear and commonly understood that climate change is unequivocal.... We cannot afford to dismiss this opportunity to build a green and sustainable world for future generations with countermeasures against climate change," he said.

The group is expected to hold a press conference on Thursday after the discussions end.

The UN panel, established in 1988, received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, along with former US Vice President Al Gore, for its contributions to the study of climate change.

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