The current talks are heading for defeat. Developing nations want to regress tp Kyoto. Obama has promised to be there for the final day of negotiations, just like he promised to be there for the final day of Olympic Games presentations. We saw how well that turned out...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8418008.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8418008.stm
Sarkozy backs calls to keep Kyoto
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has backed calls by developing nations to keep the Kyoto Protocol, which only requires rich nations to cut emissions.
Speaking in Copenhagen, he broke away from the EU position of favouring a new deal that saw all nations commit to measures to curb climate change.
Elsewhere, the US and China are at loggerheads over binding targets.
With one day remaining, observers say the climate summit is unlikely to deliver a meaningful deal.
The Danish presidency of the climate summit in Copenhagen has sought to play down expectations of a comprehensive deal emerging from the meeting.
The hosts had to drop plans to propose new draft texts on Thursday after opposition from many developing nations, which saw the talks grind to a halt on Wednesday.
Officials said progress could be made, but an international agreement may have to wait until a 2010 meeting in Mexico.
In his address to delegates, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy called on nations to "stop posturing".
"A failure in Copenhagen would a catastrophe for each and everyone of us," he said. "If we keep on heading where we're going we are heading for failure."
"So people want to keep Kyoto, OK let's keep Kyoto. But let us agree on an overall political umbrella," he stated.
The French president went on to urge ministers and leaders to adopt a full climate treaty in June 2010.
"Let's give ourselves six months after the Copenhagen conference to transform political commitments into a legal text."
Money on offer
Eariler, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the meeting her country was prepared to work towards mobilising $100bn a year for developing countries.
She told delegates: "In the context of a strong accord in which all major economies pledge meaningful mitigation actions and provide full transparency as to those actions, the US is prepared to work with other countries towards a goal of mobilising $100bn a year to address the needs of developing countries."
She made it clear - as did Japan on Wednesday when announcing a specific figure for assistance - that the money was contingent on reaching a global deal here that met its criteria.
BBC environment correspondent Richard Black said developing countries are likely to point out that there is no figure for what the US is prepared to provide itself, either from public or private finance.
The sum is also less than the amount that UN agencies such as the World Bank and International Energy Agency calculates is necessary to help mitigation and adaptation in the developing world.
But transparency is emerging as a major sticking point for the US. It wants some developing countries to open their emissions controls to scrutiny.
China and India say they are willing to take voluntary measures to slow their emissions, but they are reluctant to accept tight international oversight.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration believed there was still a chance of deal, but China needed to give ground on the US demand for transparency. He told Reuters news agency that if reports were true that China was balking at a climate deal, the US hoped it would reconsider.
There has been no immediate response from the Chinese delegation.
New alliance?
Addressing the summit on Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he feared "a triumph of form over substance" at the outcome of the UN climate summit.
In his speech, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, urged the summit to "summon up the greatest level of ambition".
"The success of our endeavours depends on us forging a new alliance," he told delegates.
He added: "In these few days in Copenhagen which will be blessed or blamed for generations to come, we cannot permit the politics of narrow self-interest to prevent a policy for human survival."
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN's climate body, told reporters that negotiators would consider two negotiating texts; one looking at further emission cuts by developed nations (except the US) by 2020, and another that looks at committing all nations to curbing climate change.
Mr de Boer added that the texts would be considered by two working groups, which were expected to report back to the main conference on Thursday evening.
Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in climate change at the International Institute for Environment and Development, told BBC News: "The negotiation process is in a high state of confusion."
"On the other hand, heads of state are arriving and talking to each other, and within hours every important decision-maker on the planet will be in the same town at the same time.
"If they can't do it, no-one can - and I think that they will."
India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh said a "blame game" had already begun because of the slow progress towards a deal.
Containing emissions to a level associated with a temperature rise of no more than 2C is the stated aim of the big nations here.
As things are going they will miss that target by a considerable margin, our correspondent says.
The poorest and most vulnerable nations say emissions should be contained to a level associated with a temperature rise of 1 or 1.5C.
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