Beijing, China (CNN) -- Representatives from about 200 countries start meeting on Monday in China to narrow differences on climate change and grapple with extreme weather such as rising temperatures and melting polar icecaps.
The weeklong talks in the northeastern city of Tianjin are the last official negotiations before the U.N. climate summit in Mexico at year's end.
"It's vital that progress is made in Tianjin on two main areas -- new public money for developing countries and rich countries agreeing tough new emissions cuts under the Kyoto Protocol," said the international environmental organization, Friends of the Earth.
Under the Kyoto agreement, developed countries have committed to cutting emissions by an average of 5 percent to 1990 levels by 2012. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol is due to expire in 2012.
Ahead of the talks in China, Greenpeace said participating countries face a choice:
"Do they want more of the extreme weather events we have experienced this year to continue; to have their decisions result in warming of 3 degrees Celsius or more? Or do they want to set the rules that put us on track to a clean, renewable low-carbon society?"
CNN
