(AP) -- China accused developed countries Tuesday of backsliding on what it said were their obligations to fight climate change and warned that the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen had entered a critical stage. In sharp comments made as the atmosphere at the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen grows more divisive, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said there had been "some regression" on the part of developed countries on their position regarding financial support. China and the United States -- the world's top two carbon polluters -- have been at odds in Copenhagen.
Scientists have warned that the world's commitments so far fall short of what is needed to keep global temperature increases below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels and head off the worst of global warming. They say global warming will create rising sea levels, increasing drought, more extreme weather and the extinction of some species. Here's a look at images coming out of Copenhagen and a few from around the globe. (25 images)
Scientists have warned that the world's commitments so far fall short of what is needed to keep global temperature increases below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels and head off the worst of global warming. They say global warming will create rising sea levels, increasing drought, more extreme weather and the extinction of some species. Here's a look at images coming out of Copenhagen and a few from around the globe. (25 images)
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A woman gestures while being photographed by her friend in front of "Digital Sun" a light installation by artist Steven Scott at the Bella Center during the climate summit in Copenhagen Dec. 10. Environment ministers sought to boost U.N. climate talks after the marathon meeting ran into turbulence, including a tough exchange between the United States and China. AFP / Getty Images / Adrian Dennis
Tourists walk past a banner put up by climate change protesters, who have set up a camp in London's Trafalgar Square, Monday, Dec. 7. The largest and most important U.N. climate change conference in history opened in Copenhagen, Denmark, with organizers warning diplomats from 192 nations that this could be the best, last chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming. AP / Alastair Grant
A protestor carries placard reading 'there is no planet b' as she joins a rally outside the Danish parliament in the center of Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday Dec. 12. Large crowds turned out for a demonstration from the city center to the Bella center, the conference venue where the largest and most important U.N. climate change conference is underway aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
Delegates talk to each other prior to a plenary session at the U.N. Climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, Friday, Dec. 11. Negotiators are working in Brussels and Copenhagen to come up with more climate change money for poor countries amid talks on a historic deal to control the world's greenhouse gases.AP / Anja Niedringhaus
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore gestures as he joins cabinet ministers from Nordic countries for discussion on Greenland's ice sheet at the U.N. Climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, Monday, Dec. 14. With a week for the climate summit to end, the split between the developing and developed world became sharper as ministers of the world's nations started to arrive for a crucial second week of climate talks. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
American Kari Fulton, a leader in the U.S. youth climate movement cries as she delivers an emotional speech calling upon U.S. President Barack Obama to take action, at a press conference of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance at Climate Summit, in Copenhagen Denmark, Thursday Dec. 10. AP / Peter Dejong
Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, holds up a temperature chart during a press conference at the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Tuesday Dec. 8. This decade has very likely been the warmest in the historical record, and 2009 will probably end up as one of the warmest years, the U.N. weather agency announced Tuesday at the second day of the 192-nation climate conference in Copenhagen. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
A Haitian delegation rests before the second-day session at the Bella center in Copenhagen on Dec. 8, as the U.N. climate talks got down to the nitty-gritty, seeking compromises on carbon emissions and funds for poor countries that could unlock a historic deal between world leaders. AFP / Getty Images / Attila Kisbenedek
‘The Survival of the Fattest’ a sculpture by Danish artisit Jens Galschiot is seen in the harbor of Copenhagen on Tuesday Dec. 8. The sculpture represents an overweight Lady Justice figurine, symbolizing the rich industrialized world, sitting on the back of a thin worn-out African man. AP / Peter Dejong
A protestors walks under a a giant skinny cow model covered with a placard reading ‘hungry for climate justice’, as she joins a rally in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday Dec. 13. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
Danish riot police guard detained demonstrators lined up on a street in Copenhagen Saturday Dec. 12. AP / Thibault Camus
Demonstrators kiss during a demonstration outside the Bella center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday Dec. 12. Large crowds turned out for a demonstration from the city center to Bella center, the conference venue where the largest and most important U.N. climate change conference is underway. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
Protestors dressed as panda bears with flames on their heads, part of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) shut-the-lights campaign, join a rally outside the Danish parliament in the center of Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday Dec. 12. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
An activist joins demonstrators protesting for a climate change in the center of Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, Dec. 15. AP / Anja Niedringhaus
Smoke rises from a chimney as morning breaks in Copenhagen on Dec. 13. AFP / Getty Images / Axel Schmidt
Climate change demonstrators dressed as clowns hug a police officer outside the Danish Foreign Ministry while demonstrators pass during the climate march in Copenhagen on Dec. 12. At least 30,000 people marched through Copenhagen, demanding world leaders declare war on the greenhouse gases that threaten future generations with hunger, poverty and homelessness. AFP / Getty Images / Adrian Dennis
Small placards in different languages are placed on a delegates desk at Klimaforum, the peoples' climate summit in Copenhagen on Dec. 8. Klimaforum, a separate event is aimed at letting regular people voice their opinions and debate the central issues being discussed during the COP15 climate summit. AFP / Getty Images / Adrian Dennis
Environmental acvtivists from Climate No Borders run with a stolen balloon during a demonstration on Dec. 14, in Copenhagen on the the 8th day of the U.N. Climate Change Conference. AFP / Getty Images / Jens Astrup
Bulgarian activists hold candles during a silent "Vigil for Action" in Sofia on Dec. 12. AFP / Getty Images / Dimitar Dilkoff
Children place their hands on a life size ice carving of a polar bear by animal sculptor Mark Coreth in Trafalgar Square, central London, on Dec. 11. The sculpture was part of a campaign by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to highlight the plight of the polar bears in the Arctic, where melting ice is threatening their survival. AFP / Getty Images / Carl De Souza
A mountain of polyethylene terephthalate bottles (commonly referred to as PET) collected is seen at the Tzu Chi Foundation's recycling center in Taipei on Dec.10, as nations continued U.N. climate negatiations in the Danish capital Copenhagen this week. AFP / Getty Images / Sam
Yeh
Chinese miners prepare to start work at a coal mine in Xian, in northern China's Shanxi province on Dec. 7. AFP / Getty Images
A Chinese man atop a truck loaded with recyclables plastics in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Dec. 15. AP / Elizabeth Dalziel
A rag picker is silhouetted as he searches for recyclable materials in a garbage dump on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Sunday, Dec. 13. AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh
Activists release sky lanterns to express their hope in the ongoing climate conference in Copenhagen, in the backdrop of the Lotus temple, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Dec. 10. AP / Manish Swarup
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