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Industry, emissions - Source: ONE News -
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World leaders have rallied to a diplomatic offensive to forge a UN climate deal in Copenhagen in December and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says an agreement is "within reach".
"Our common goal is to achieve a firm foundation for a legally binding climate treaty as early as possible in 2010. I am confident that we are on track to do this," Ban has told a summit of Commonwealth leaders in Trinidad and Tobago.
"Each week brings new commitments and pledges - from industrialized countries, emerging economies and developing countries alike."
"An agreement is within reach ... We must seal a deal in Copenhagen," Ban says.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen says the deal will be a turning point in the fight against global warming.
Addressing the Commonwealth leaders, Rasmussen said Denmark had received an "overwhelmingly positive" response to its invitation to world leaders to attend the UN climate talks.
"More than 85 heads of state and government have told us they are coming to Copenhagen, and many are still positively considering," he says.
Rasmussen has urged major developed countries to deliver firm commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and to "put figures on the table" for "up-front" financing to help poor nations combat climate change.
"We cannot afford to waste the strong momentum pointing towards Copenhagen. We cannot risk turning climate change into another international issue negotiated into infinity. We must deliver to our citizens in Copenhagen."
'Cannot wait until 2013'
Earlier, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the creation of a $US10 billion-a-year fund to help developing countries battle the effects of global warming, proposing that such financing be made available as early as next year, well before any new climate deal takes effect.
"We face a climate emergency: we cannot wait until 2013 to begin taking action," Brown says.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who attended the Commonwealth meeting as a special guest along with Rasmussen and UN chief Ban, has also made a similar financing proposal.
Sarkozy has called for efforts to achieve an "ambitious global accord in Copenhagen".
Most nations have given up hopes of finalizing a detailed legal treaty text in Copenhagen, but prospects for achieving a broad political framework pact have been brightened by public promises of greenhouse gas curbs by China and the United States, the world's biggest emitters.
Call for 'figures on the table'
The 53-nation Commonwealth group, which represents more than a quarter of the global population, bringing together wealthy nations with some of the world's smallest states, has launched a diplomatic push to drum up momentum for a comprehensive climate deal in Copenhagen.
"On this, the eve of the UN Copenhagen summit on climate change, the Commonwealth has an opportunity to lead once more," Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who heads the group comprising mostly former British colonies, said at the opening of the three-day summit .
Nearly half of the Commonwealth's members are small island states which are directly threatened by rising sea levels caused by global warming.
Developing nations are appealing for financial aid from rich governments to help them counter climate change and reduce carbon pollution.
The political accord the UN is aiming for in Copenhagen would cover tougher emissions targets, climate financing for poorer nations and transfer of clean-energy technology.
The Commonwealth is putting at the forefront of the climate debate the cases of tiny island states like the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Tuvalu and Kiribati in the Pacific, whose existence would be threatened by rises in ocean levels.
Recognizing what he calls this "immediate existential threat" to such small, vulnerable states, Rasmussen says they "cannot afford the luxury of a failure in Copenhagen".
The climate treaty, now expected to be adopted as a final text only next year, will replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.
