In the first official Chinese response to a stark UN report issued last week on climate change, foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu appeared to take aim at the United States as she highlighted the importance of the Kyoto Protocol.

"You need to point out that climate changes are the result of the long-term emissions of the developed countries and the high per-capita emissions of the developed countries," Jiang said.

"Currently the developed countries should make an example in shouldering the responsibility in reducing their emission in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol."

The United States and Australia are the only two developed nations not to have signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a United Nations pact that commits signatory countries to cutting back their emissions of six greenhouse gases blamed for causing climate change.

However, industrialised countries face much tougher restrictions than developing nations, leading to protests from the United States and Australia that nations such as China and India should not be exempt from cutting back.

China, which relies on coal for 70 percent of its energy needs, is the second-largest emitter of climate-changing gases behind the United States and is on track to become the world's biggest polluter in coming years.

But China has repeatedly insisted its per capita output of greenhouse gases is much less than in the United States and other developed countries.

The greenhouse gas emissions of China and every other country were thrown into sharp focus following last week's UN report blaming human activities for global warming.

The report warned that the Earth's average surface temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2100, amid a corresponding rise in typhoons, droughts and other natural disasters.

In another Chinese response to the report, the head of the China Meteorological Association said Tuesday the nation lacked the technology and money for a wholesale conversion to cleaner energy sources than coal.

"There are several restraints here," Qin Dahe, who was also one of the main authors of the UN report, told a press conference.

"The first is technology... the second is funding. We can try, but replacing 70 percent of China's energy consumption really takes a lot of money."

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