China appeared to cast doubts yesterday on the scientific consensus on the underlying causes of global warming, with a senior official saying that Beijing had an “open attitude” towards what he described as “disputes in the scientific community” on the issue.

“There is a view that climate change is caused by cyclical trends in nature itself,” Xie Zhenhua, vice-chairman of China's National Development and Reforms Commission, told a press conference in New Delhi. “We have to keep an open attitude.”

Mr Xie said later global warming was a “solid fact” that was already having an impact on developing countries but that there were still “uncertainties” over the cause of the phenomenon. “The major reason of the climate change is the unconstrained emissions of developed countries during the industrialisation process. That's the mainstream view,” he said. “But there are some uncertainties.”

Mr Xie was speaking after meeting his counterparts from India, Brazil and South Africa to discuss how to move forward with the international talks on combating global warming, after the Copenhagen conference.

His remarks also came after Rajendra Pachauri, chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, admitted that his panel's controversial 2007 claim that Himalayan glaciers could disappear within three decades was “an error”, though he insisted the reality of global warming could not be ignored.

“There's been this error, but that in no way detracts from the value of the report or the impact it has had,” Mr Pachauri said.

During talks in New Delhi yesterday, India, China, Brazil and South Africa agreed to formally submit their own voluntary carbon emission control plans to the UN by January 31.

At the climate summit in Copenhagen in December, all the big developed and developing countries agreed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. Countries were then given until January 31 to submit their national goals on specific targets. The UN appeared to cast doubt last week on whether this deadline would be met.

However, the decision by the four countries, who call themselves the Basic group, to meet the deadline will help to put the frayed negotiations back on track.

Buyelwa Sonjica, South Africa's minister for water and environment, said the four countries felt they had a “leadership obligation” to report as per the original deadline.

Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, also called on developed countries to show their sincerity in combating climate change by fulfilling quickly their pledge to give $10bn (€7.07bn, £6.19bn) to the most vulnerable states to cope with global warming.

Meanwhile, Ms Sonjica also stressed the need to battle misgivings about the science related to global warming and its causes.