Hopes raised of climate finance deal

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon tonight raised hopes that a deal could be done to provide long-term finance for developing countries to fight global warming.

After a series of meetings at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, Mr Brown said he thought there was more willingness to get an agreement on tackling global warming than public statements by countries at the crunch conference suggested.

And he said he thought a deal on long term finance could be agreed to help developing countries cope with the impacts of climate change and develop without massively increasing their pollution.

The Prime Minister made the claims after discussions with Mr Ban to present proposals for breaking the deadlock in the talks – a blueprint which has not yet been made public.

Earlier Mr Ban risked fuelling further discontent among developing nations - who walked out of the talks on Monday over concerns developed countries were trying to dodge obligations to cut emissions – by conceding that richer states may not be willing to commit this week to long-term financial support.

He suggested in an interview with the Financial Times that negotiations over the level of aid – a key sticking point in the talks – might have to wait and appealed for “common sense, compromise and partnership”.

But tonight he said sufficient financial and technological support was “key to bridging the gap between developed and developing countries”.

“I can tell you at this time we would have some prospect of agreeing on long term financial support,” he said.

Mr Ban also said he hoped developed countries would come out with more ambitious mid term targets for the cuts in emissions they would make by 2020.

Following the talks, Mr Brown said: “I think the Secretary General accepts now that a long term finance deal, that he thought impossible yesterday, is something that can now be done.

“I think it’s important to recognise that every country on every continent has now got to make a contribution to this.

“We can move forward, but it demands a great deal of determination and will on behalf of all countries. I hope to see the fruits of what we are doing tomorrow. I believe we can make a breakthrough.”

And he said: “We’ve got to accept the challenge, we need to respond to the will of public opinion to tackle climate change and we need to move forward with an agreement, both a short term agreement about finance and long term agreement about emissions and what we can do to cut them.”

He added: “Having talked to a number of countries and different groups, I think there is more willingness to get an agreement and more agreement than is suggested by some of the statements being made.”

He said his proposals had gained support among delegates and could form the basis of a final agreement.