美
国政府对停滞不前的联合国气候变化会谈发起了最后的冲刺，在奥巴马总统动身前往哥本哈根之际，提出了到2020年每年筹资1,000亿美元帮助贫穷国家的计划，以求能够达成一份协议。
美国国务卿希拉里•克林顿周四提议，包括美国在内的主要经济体未来10年内向发展中国家每年提供1,000亿美元用于应对气候变化。希拉里希望以此打破哥本哈根气候谈判的僵局。道琼斯通讯社的杰弗里・鲍尔(Jeffrey Ball)报道了其它国家对希拉里这一提议的回应情况。
白宫周四试图降低人们的期望值。白宫官员说，他们预计总统不会提出任何新的方案，因为目标和融资数字已经公布。但根据周五的谈判情况，这可能会发生变化。白宫并未排除奥巴马会两手空空返回华盛顿的可能性，尽管上月曾期望他可以达成“具有实质意义的”气候协议。
奥巴马周四迈出了重要一步，授权国务卿希拉里・克林顿(Hillary Clinton)初步批准了欧洲的方案，即发达国家在未来10年每年拿出1,000亿美元帮助贫穷国家应对气候变化。这个决定是在会谈周三陷入僵局后做出的，欧洲官员也对此感到吃惊，称他们事先未得到通知。
希拉里周四说，这笔钱将用于“最贫穷和最易受气候变化影响的国家”，这句话相当于排除了快速增长的中国。许多西方国家都认为中国不应接受援助。她说，这笔资金将来自多种途径，包括政府资金和民间资金、多边和双边形式，以及其他可供选择的融资方式等。
美国的所有公共资金来源仍控制在国会手中，国会议员一直不愿对气候变化法案采取行动，而是将重点放在了削减庞大的预算赤字和解决美国的就业问题上。
白宫官员也承认，这一建议距离敲定协议还有很大距离，因此在总统专机起飞前数小时努力将期望值降至最低。其它国家的官员也是如此。
英国气候大臣米利班德(Ed Miliband)警告说，达成实质性协议是在同时间赛跑。他说，预计奥巴马和其他人周五将面临存在争议的问题，如各自国家减少温室气体排放的力度多大等，而谈判代表还将继续对文字仔细推敲。
希拉里宣布的是美国官员为抵御发展中国家批评而采取的最新举措，发展中国家一直指责美国在打破气候谈判僵局方面做的不够。奥巴马定于周五上午抵达哥本哈根，会见其他领导人并参加气候协议的签字仪式──如果能够达成这样一份协议的话。
希拉里说，如果所有主要经济体无法就透明的碳排放控制等关键条款做出承诺，那美国也不会承诺这样的计划。她说，如果没有对某种程度的透明度的承诺，协议就会受到破坏。
中国外交部副部长何亚非周四说，中国削减碳强度的目标不受国际监督。
在发达国家如何核查中国等国遵守情况的问题上有一些取得进展的迹象。印度环境部长拉梅什(Jairam Ramesh)对记者说，我们在核查问题上已75%达成了协议。他说，印度已就这个问题拿出了一个四点的方案。
美国与中国之间的紧张关系主导了哥本哈根峰会，这两个最大的温室气体排放国都在勾心斗角，以争取发展中国家的支持。
在会谈方面，美国曾预计中国可能会组织盟国和在经济上依赖于中国的国家组成集团，抵制美国达成协议的努力，尤其是在核查和监督减排承诺的问题上。
美国还在援助问题上遇到了非洲国家的抵制。希拉里周四的声明似乎动摇了一些非洲代表。但是，其他77国集团的代表对此反应冷淡。77国集团首席谈判代表、苏丹外交官迪阿平(Lumumba di-Aping)说，需要对这一提议进行研究。他说，这是一个很好的信号，但仍然不够，我们需要更多资金。
Stephen Power / Guy Chazan / Elizabeth Williamson
The Obama administration launched an eleventh-hour push to pull a deal from the stalled United Nations climate talks here, offering to get behind efforts to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor nations as President Barack Obama headed for the Danish capital.
With a comprehensive deal appearing unlikely, negotiators called a meeting in Copenhagen late Thursday night, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned that 'failure would be catastrophic' for world leaders.
The White House tried to lower expectations Thursday. White House officials said they don't anticipate any new offers by the president, since the targets and financing figure have already been announced. But depending on the status of negotiations Friday, that could change. The White House left open the possibility Mr. Obama would choose to come back to Washington with no deal, despite having raised expectations last month that he could reach a 'meaningful' climate deal.
President Obama played a big card Thursday, authorizing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to tentatively endorse European proposals that rich nations come up with $100 billion a year over the next decade to help poor nations fight climate change. The decision -- which surprised European officials who said they hadn't been flagged -- was made after the conference hit an impasse Wednesday.
Mrs. Clinton said in her speech Thursday that the money would be aimed at the 'poorest and most vulnerable among us' -- a phrase that excludes fast-rising China, which many in the West think shouldn't receive aid. She said the money would come from 'a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.'
Any source of U.S. public funding remains in the hands of Congress, where lawmakers have stalled action on a climate bill and are focused on cutting the swelling budget deficit and funding jobs in the U.S.
White House officials acknowledged that the offer is far from a sealed deal, and in the hours before the president's plane took off, worked to minimize expectations. So did officials from other nations.
Ed Miliband, the British climate minister, cautioned that reaching a substantive deal was still a 'race against the clock.' Mr. Obama and others were expected to face contentious issues Friday -- such as how aggressively their nations will cut greenhouse-gas emissions -- while negotiators continue to finesse the text, he said.
Mrs. Clinton's announcement is the latest move by U.S. officials to counter accusations from developing nations that the U.S. hasn't done enough to break the climate-talk deadlock. President Obama was scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen Friday morning to meet with other world leaders and join a climate agreement -- if there is one.
Mrs. Clinton said the U.S. wouldn't commit to the plan if all major economies don't commit to key provisions, including carbon-emission controls that are transparent. 'If there isn't a commitment for transparency of some sort, that would be a deal breaker,' she said.
He Yafei, China's vice minister of foreign affairs, said Thursday China's target for reducing the amount of carbon it emits per unit of economic output shouldn't be subject to international monitoring.
There were some signs of movement on the issue of how rich countries can check the compliance of nations like China. 'We have 75% agreement on the verification issue,' Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters. He said India had come up with a four-point formula on the issue.
Tension between the U.S. and China has dominated the Copenhagen summit, as the two largest greenhouse-gas emitters jockeyed to win support from developing nations.
Going into the talks, the U.S. had anticipated that the Chinese could organize allies and countries that are economically dependent on China into a bloc to resist U.S. efforts to leverage a deal, particular on the issue of verifying and monitoring promises to cut emissions.
The U.S. also encountered resistance from African nations on the issue of aid. Mrs. Clinton's statement Thursday appeared to sway some African delegates. But other G77 delegates gave it a cool reception. Lumumba di-Aping, a Sudanese diplomat who is the group's chief negotiator, said the offer would need to be studied. 'This is a good signal, but it's still insufficient,' he said. 'We need more money.'
Stephen Power / Guy Chazan / Elizabeth Williamson
With a comprehensive deal appearing unlikely, negotiators called a meeting in Copenhagen late Thursday night, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned that 'failure would be catastrophic' for world leaders.
The White House tried to lower expectations Thursday. White House officials said they don't anticipate any new offers by the president, since the targets and financing figure have already been announced. But depending on the status of negotiations Friday, that could change. The White House left open the possibility Mr. Obama would choose to come back to Washington with no deal, despite having raised expectations last month that he could reach a 'meaningful' climate deal.
President Obama played a big card Thursday, authorizing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to tentatively endorse European proposals that rich nations come up with $100 billion a year over the next decade to help poor nations fight climate change. The decision -- which surprised European officials who said they hadn't been flagged -- was made after the conference hit an impasse Wednesday.
Mrs. Clinton said in her speech Thursday that the money would be aimed at the 'poorest and most vulnerable among us' -- a phrase that excludes fast-rising China, which many in the West think shouldn't receive aid. She said the money would come from 'a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.'
Any source of U.S. public funding remains in the hands of Congress, where lawmakers have stalled action on a climate bill and are focused on cutting the swelling budget deficit and funding jobs in the U.S.
White House officials acknowledged that the offer is far from a sealed deal, and in the hours before the president's plane took off, worked to minimize expectations. So did officials from other nations.
Ed Miliband, the British climate minister, cautioned that reaching a substantive deal was still a 'race against the clock.' Mr. Obama and others were expected to face contentious issues Friday -- such as how aggressively their nations will cut greenhouse-gas emissions -- while negotiators continue to finesse the text, he said.
Mrs. Clinton's announcement is the latest move by U.S. officials to counter accusations from developing nations that the U.S. hasn't done enough to break the climate-talk deadlock. President Obama was scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen Friday morning to meet with other world leaders and join a climate agreement -- if there is one.
Mrs. Clinton said the U.S. wouldn't commit to the plan if all major economies don't commit to key provisions, including carbon-emission controls that are transparent. 'If there isn't a commitment for transparency of some sort, that would be a deal breaker,' she said.
He Yafei, China's vice minister of foreign affairs, said Thursday China's target for reducing the amount of carbon it emits per unit of economic output shouldn't be subject to international monitoring.
There were some signs of movement on the issue of how rich countries can check the compliance of nations like China. 'We have 75% agreement on the verification issue,' Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters. He said India had come up with a four-point formula on the issue.
Tension between the U.S. and China has dominated the Copenhagen summit, as the two largest greenhouse-gas emitters jockeyed to win support from developing nations.
Going into the talks, the U.S. had anticipated that the Chinese could organize allies and countries that are economically dependent on China into a bloc to resist U.S. efforts to leverage a deal, particular on the issue of verifying and monitoring promises to cut emissions.
The U.S. also encountered resistance from African nations on the issue of aid. Mrs. Clinton's statement Thursday appeared to sway some African delegates. But other G77 delegates gave it a cool reception. Lumumba di-Aping, a Sudanese diplomat who is the group's chief negotiator, said the offer would need to be studied. 'This is a good signal, but it's still insufficient,' he said. 'We need more money.'
Stephen Power / Guy Chazan / Elizabeth Williamson
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