Chinese President Xi Jinping called on rich nations to honour their commitment to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries to tackle climate change.

Jinping told the UN climate summit in Paris that developed countries should accept “more shared responsibilities” to limit global warming and help poor countries adapt to a climate-afflicted world.

“It is also important that climate-friendly technologies be transferred to developing countries,” Jinping said. Rich nations pledged at a UN summit in Copenhagen in 2009 to muster $100 billion annually in financial support to poor countries starting in 2020.

The money is meant to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions that drive global warming, as well as to adapt to rising sea levels, droughts and other potentially catastrophic impacts.

However, six years later poor nations are frustrated that rich countries are yet to fully commit to the fund. The debate over the money highlights a long-standing feud between rich and poor nations over how to distribute responsibility for tackling climate change. While China and the US have pledged to work together to fight global warming, Jinping made clear that poor nations should not have to sacrifice economic growth.

“Addressing climate change should not deny the legitimate needs of developing countries to reduce poverty and improve their people’s living standards,” Jinping said.

Rich nations acknowledge a historical responsibility for global warming. But holding temperature increases below two degrees Celsius — the UN-endorsed goal — will be impossible if emerging giants such as China and India fail to step up their efforts, they argue.

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