China's President Xi Jinping will bring no new concessions to the negotiating table when he attends key UN climate change talks in Paris next week, a senior Chinese diplomat said Wednesday.

China pledged last year to peak carbon output by "around 2030" -- suggesting at least another decade of growing emissions.

The Asian giant is estimated to have released nine to 10 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2013, nearly twice as much as the United States and around two and a half times the European Union figure.

World leaders will be in attendance in France "to lend political impetus" to the meeting but "are not there for negotiations", Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a briefing.

"The Paris conference is not about tabling new proposals -- it's about narrowing differences and reaching agreement on the basis of the existing proposals," he added.

Xi will have meetings with US President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Francois Hollande on the sidelines of the conference, Liu said.

Campaigners portrayed Beijing as a villain of a failed previous summit in Copenhagen, where its officials resisted carbon reduction targets.

Xi will be in Paris for the first day of the UN Conference of Parties (COP21) summit, which starts on Monday.

China is the world's largest polluter and will be a key player at the meeting in the face of disputes over whether developed or developing countries should bear more of the burden for reducing emissions.

Liu called upon developed countries to do more by "increasing intensity of [their] actions before 2020".

"The issue of climate change is the result of historical emissions by developed countries, and the responsibilities and obligations of developed and developing countries should be differentiated," he added.

China's transformative economic boom has mainly been fuelled by coal, which provides most of its energy, and it plans to move 250 million more people from the countryside to cities in the next 10 years -- creating more buildings and car users.

World Bank sets $16 bn plan for climate fight in Africa
Washington (AFP) Nov 24, 2015 - The World Bank announced Tuesday a plan to help Africa weather climate shocks that requires $16.1 billion in financing through 2020.

The goal is to raise the money from several development organizations, countries and private partners, with the International Development Association, the World Bank arm that supports the poorest countries, providing some $5.7 billion, the Washington-based development lender said.

"Sub-Saharan Africa is highly vulnerable to climate shocks, and our research shows that could have far-ranging impact -- on everything from child stunting and malaria to food price increases and droughts," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim in a statement.

The plan will be presented at COP21, the 12-day UN climate summit that opens Monday in Paris. The 195-nation forum is aimed at producing a universal pact to cap global warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above mid-19th century levels, and lock in financial support for poor and vulnerable countries most exposed to rising seas, superstorms and crippling drought.

Africa, which contributes the least to the world's greenhouse gas emissions, suffers the most from the impact of climate change, including the devastating effects of extreme weather patterns that damage infrastructure and ravage crops, the bank said.

"This plan identifies concrete steps that African governments can take to ensure that their countries will not lose hard-won gains in economic growth and poverty reduction, and they can offer some protection from climate change," Kim said.

The plan says that the region requires $5-10 billion per year to adapt to global warming of two degrees Celsius.

Among the plan's initiatives is boosting the resilience of Africa's assets, with a particular focus on small-island developing states at risk from rising waters amid global warming.

According to the bank, even a temperature rise of two degrees Celsius was expected to result in a loss of 40-80 percent of suitable growing areas in sub-Saharan Africa for maize, millet and sorghum.

Another focus is improving opportunities for scaling up low-carbon energy sources like solar and geothermal, and supporting "climate-smart agriculture" that helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"The Africa Climate Business Plan spells out a clear path to invest in the continent's urgent climate needs and to fast-track the required climate finance to ensure millions of people are protected from sliding into extreme poverty," said Makhtar Diop, World Bank vice president for Africa, in the statement.