COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A weekend deadline looms for ministerial aides to develop draft climate change language during the climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Aides to delegates compared proposed agreement language during the first two days of the U.N.-sponsored summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, ahead of the arrival of about 100 ministers to close out negotiations Dec. 18, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Two drafts grabbed attention Tuesday, the second day of the summit, including one that observers said seemed to be accommodating interests of industrialized nations and another that seemed more favorable to developing countries, the Times said.
Delegates face four years-long sticking points as they try to develop a climate change document that would succeed the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions:
-- How much and how quickly should wealthy countries cut emissions or pledge to limit the rise in the Earth's temperature.
-- How much emerging economic powers such as China and India should slow the growth of their emissions and how they should prove they moved away from "business as usual."
-- How much rich countries should compensate poor ones to limit exposure to climate extremes expected to worsen in many regions near the equator as greenhouse gases build in the atmosphere and seas rise.
-- How money earmarked for poorer countries could be guaranteed.
Also on Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organization reported that 2000-2009 seemed to be the warmest decade in modern times, the Times said. Data indicated 2009 was the fifth warmest year on record, presenters said, cautioning that information for 2009 was incomplete.
