As Climate Treaty Deadline Nears, Nations May Settle for Interim Steps

"WASHINGTON — With the clock running out and deep differences unresolved, it now appears that there is little chance that international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December will produce a comprehensive and binding new treaty on global warming.

The United States and many other major pollutant-emitting countries have concluded that it is more useful to take incremental but important steps toward a global agreement rather than to try to jam through a treaty that is either too weak to address the problem or too onerous to be ratified and enforced.

Instead, representatives at the Copenhagen meeting are likely to announce a number of interim steps and agree to keep talking next year."

John M. Broder reports for the New York Times October 20, 2009.

See Also:

"Officials Hint at Progress Negotiating Climate Deal" (New York Times)

"UN Climate Change Chief Undaunted" (Financial Times)

"How the Media Takes Us All On a Climate Treaty Roller Coaster Ride" (TreeHugger)

"The Aura of Inevitability Strikes Back" (New York Times)