Beijing - Richer, developed nations should lead the effort against climate change and help developing nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, China said Wednesday.

Longtime industrialized nations have a duty because of their historic responsibility for the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to provide cooperation, financing and technology transfers to poorer, developing countries, China's cabinet said in the White Book, their foremost policy document on climate change.

The vice chairman of China's top economic planning body said rich nations should commit at least 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic products to help poor countries fight global warming.

"But till now, their spending is far below the level," Xie Zhenhua with the National Development and Reform Commission was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

Beijing said it wrote the White Book on the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" for climate change.

"Developed countries should be responsible for their accumulative emissions and current high per-capita emissions and take the lead in reducing emissions in addition to providing financial support and transferring technologies to developing countries," the White Book said.

Developed countries should work to adapt to climate change and reduce their emissions "to the lowest degree" while at the same time developing their economies and fighting poverty, it added.

China and the United States are the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases, but Beijing has argued that the West bears a greater historical responsibility for global warming and should allow poorer countries to develop their economies and reduce poverty as the world fights climate change.

Xie said rich nations accounted for 77 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions from 1950 to 2000 while China accounted for 8 per cent from 1904 to 2004.

"According to our data, China's current total emissions are almost as the same size as that of the United States, but we should look at the issue fairly and from a historic view," Xie said.

The White Book said China would do its part through energy conservation, development of sources of renewable energy, increases in nuclear plant construction and reducing emissions.

It has set goals to reduce its greenhouse gas production and energy consumption but has failed to achieve them.

The policy paper also said China is one of the countries most susceptible to climate change and has already seen decreases in precipitation in northern China and increases in southern and western China while the intensity and frequency of droughts and heavy precipitation has risen.

It predicted drops in agricultural yields and livestock production, increasing desertification, and rising crop and livestock diseases as well as insect blights.

Water supplies were also expected to undergo further drops, it said. (dpa)