Climate talks in disarray; Singh meets Wen ahead of plenary

No headway was made in climate talks here with the US and China refusing to budge from their positions on emission cuts.

No headway was made in climate talks in Copenhagen with the US and China refusing to budge from their positions on emission cuts as negotiators struggled on Friday to strike a face-saving deal to tackle global warming.

Indications of an impasse in the talks came from Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren who said no agreed text had emerged ahead of the meeting of 110 world leaders.

“It is now up to the world leaders to decide,” he said while blaming China and the US for the deadlock.

Amid the hard negotiations,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao to consolidate the position of developing countries.

During his meeting with Wen,Singh recalled that the two countries have been cooperating at various fora,including the G-20.

“We need to continue the cooperation,” said the Prime Minister,who arrived in the Danish capital late last night to take part in the high-level segment UN climate talks.

India and China are the key members of the BASIC bloc — with others being Brazil and South Africa — which along with other developing countries have been resisting attempts by the rich nations to set aside the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Story continues below this ad

The protocol sets legally binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for industrialised nations. It also has a strong compliance mechanism which penalises the rich nations if they do not meet emission reduction targets agreed upon by them.