Climate chief says emissions deal possible

The UN’s top climate change official said today he is confident a new global warming deal can be agreed this year, but key issues remain unresolved.

Yvo de Boer said industrialised countries are still far from committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the scale required.

Scientists say advanced nations must cut emissions by 25% to 40% from 1990 levels to prevent climate disaster.

Mr De Boer spoke at the close of a two-week negotiating session in Bonn attended by 183 countries.

He said the first draft of an accord clarified what the countries want to see in the final version, and that an ambitious agreement seems possible.

Environmentalists warned, however, the talks were moving too slow to get a deal as planned at an international conference in Copenhagen in December.