‘No climate deal till 2011’

THE UN’s top climate official said yesterday he does not expect a binding global warming agreement until the end of 2011, two years later than originally thought.

Yvo de Boer said he hopes the next major climate conference in Mexico beginning in November will succeed in drawing up the “operational architecture” for controlling carbon emissions and helping countries adapt to climate change, which the Copenhagen summit last December failed to do.

De Boer said he hopes the Mexico conclusions will be turned into a legal document at the next annual meeting in 2011 in South Africa. The Copenhagen conference, which originally was seen as a deadline for a legally binding accord, ended with only a vague agreement of principles and financing.