Hopes climate talks will yield deal

UN climate negotiators said yesterday 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 UN 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 the Earth’s rising temperatures.

The idea of next month’s UN 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 US, may not be politically ready to sign a legal pact by next month.

Yvo de Boer, the UN official shepherding the talks, said negotiators still aimed to achieve a significant deal.