UN: Poor nations fear broken promises on climate change

DEVELOPING countries don’t trust wealthy nations’ promises that they will help them meet the challenges of climate change, the UN’s top climate official said yesterday, adding that means any new global warming deal must have legal force.

The legal status of an agreement and whether nations will be sanctioned for failing to meet their commitments are contentious issues in talks on controlling the world’s emissions of carbon and other heat-raising greenhouse gases.

“We live in a world of broken promises,” said Yvo de Boer, the UN climate chief. Developing countries are concerned “they will commit to targets and not deliver.”