BARCELONA, Spain – U.N. climate negotiators said Friday that it still is possible to conclude a strong, 192-nation deal to define future work in fighting global warming, despite low expectations for setting legally binding emissions targets next month.
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 U.N. climate talks in Spain hammering out a draft accord in which rich nations would make hard pledges to reduce emissions and to financial aid to help the world’s poorest cope with the effects of Earth’s rising temperatures.
The idea of next month’s U.N. 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 United States, might not be politically ready to sign a legal pact by next month.
Yvo de Boer, the U.N. official who is shepherding the talks, assured that negotiators were still aiming to achieve a significant deal that would set specific goals. Nations would agree to stick to their promises while negotiating the details of the treaty, taking as long as another year.
“Governments can deliver a strong deal in Copenhagen, and nothing has changed my confidence in that,” de Boer said.
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