Delagates Moving Forward in Climate Talks

(BARCELONA, Spain) — U.N. climate negotiators said Friday that, despite low expectations for setting legally binding emissions targets next month, it is still possible to conclude a strong, 192-nation deal to define future work in fighting global warming.

Countries most vulnerable to climate change said they were incensed that rich nations were rethinking the timetable for concluding a legally binding treaty.

Delegates were spending the final day of U.N. climate talks in Spain hammering out a draft accord in which rich nations would make hard pledges to reduce emissions and to finance aid to help the world's poorest cope with the effects of Earth's rising temperatures. (See TIME's interactive graphic "Effects of Climate Change by 2020.")

The idea of next month's U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen ending with a political deal, rather than a legally binding agreement, disappointed developing nations already suffering severe droughts, floods and other catastrophes blamed on rising temperatures.

The shift follows acknowledgment that several countries, including the United States, may not be politically ready to sign a legal pact by next month.

Yvo de Boer, the U.N. official who is shepherding the talks, assured that negotiators were still aiming to achieve a significant deal that would set specific goals.

Nations would agree to stick to their promises while negotiating the details of the treaty, taking as long as another year. "Governments can deliver a strong deal in Copenhagen, and nothing has changed my confidence in that," de Boer said. While he said he could not guarantee promises would not be broken, it would be difficult for developed countries "to wiggle out" of written commitments they make in a Copenhagen deal. (See TIME's video "The Governors' Global Climate Summitt.")

The deal may take the form of consensus decisions, including an overarching statement of long-term objectives, along with a series of supplemental decisions on technology transfers, rewards for halting deforestation, and building infrastructure in poor countries to adapt to global warming, delegates said.

The Copenhagen deal now expected would carry the authority of world leaders who would sign it. De Boer suggested 40 heads of government would be attending the Copenhagen summit, though the Danish government said that number was not yet been confirmed.

The head of the bloc of developing nations criticized rich nations for failing expectations after two years of tough negotiations for a legal treaty. "Nonperformance, nondeliverance and noncommitment by the developed countries is acting as a brake for any meaningful progress," Sudanese delegate Lumumba Di-Aping said. "We need a real change of heart and mind by the developed countries," which he accused of seeking to "relieve themselves of the commitment by asking the poorest of the world and the most vulnerable and the most underdeveloped to subsidize their high standard of living."

Di-Aping also complained that rich nations so far were offering too little in emissions cuts. Scientists say industrial countries should reduce emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels to avoid climate catastrophe. Di-Aping said their pledges amounted to 11-15 percent.

The head of the Indian delegation, Shyam Saran, said Copenhagen's success would depend on rich nations presenting significant reduction targets, but that an agreement by all 192 nations could still be binding. "We don't share view that it is no longer possible. If it were no longer possible, we would rather pack up and go home," Saran said.

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