|
MADRID, Dec. 8-- Developed countries should take more responsibility in addressing climate change, and developing countries should be allowed to transform to the fossil-free economy, a leading scientist has said in an interview with Xinhua. "We are on the same boat, and we share the same atmosphere, so that everyone has to decarbonize. But we can go at different paces," said Johan Rockstroem, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, on the sidelines of the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid. Rockstroem said developing countries like China should be allowed to transition slower than richer countries, because the developed and industrialized countries have larger responsibility for the historical emission, so that should also take larger responsibility for the phasing-out of fossil fuel. Rockstroem believed that people's lifestyle is not fundamentally locked into fossil fuels. The future for everyone is in renewable, smart and modern fossil-free energy systems. However, there is no doubt that coal-dependent developing countries will have to transition in a slower way. He also noted that looking at the long term, China has already made plans to achieve fundamentally sustainable ecological society, showing that China is now actively undertaking the climate-friendly transition. Nothing has been achieved after intensive negotiation in the past week since the COP25 kicked off. It's the moment when diplomats have exhausted their mandates and look searchingly to the arrival of their ministers next week to break the deadlock. | 
