Copenhagen climax

Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt appealed to the US and China “to do their part” to tackle global warming, speaking in the final hours of frantic negotiations at the climate conference in Copenhagen.

As the clock wound down on the marathon two-week conference, rich and poor countries were still deeply divided on many fronts. In particular, Washington and Beijing continued to face off over how to ensure that fast-developing nations follow through on pledges to limit emissions. There were also questions as to whether poor nations would accept smaller cuts from wealthy countries in exchange for financial assistance.

Around 120 world leaders participated in the final round of talks. The EU was represented by Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, together with European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.

Taking the podium shortly after the Swedish leader, president Barroso called the summit a “critically important milestone” even though, he added, “it is now obvious, we will not get all we had hoped for”.

Both leaders reiterated the EU’s conditional offer of more ambitious emission-reduction targets. If other countries also offer bigger cuts, the EU would commit to a 30% greenhouse-emissions cut by 2020 (taking 1990 levels as the base). If not, the current target of a 20% reduction would stand.

Just how high other countries were prepared to go remained unclear, but the summit was expected to sign off on another EU goal – limiting the average rise in global temperatures to 2°C. That threshold is important because it minimises the risk of dangerous runaway climate change.

Mr Barroso said world leaders had also agreed to offer the developing world $30bn (€21bn) over the next three years to cut emissions and adapt to climate change. The EU has already pledged €7.2bn of that total.

“We also have a clear, long-term funding objective to provide $100bn (€70bn) a year by 2020 to meet additional needs of developing countries,” he said. The money is expected to come from a variety of source, public and private.

The summit is also expected to carve out common ground on compensating countries for preserving forests and perhaps other natural landscapes that play a crucial role in curbing climate change.

Whatever is decided, it will only be a political agreement.

Delegates were seeking a declaration that would be a framework for a treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012. The goal now is to finalise legally binding texts next year.