Hopes that a legally binding climate change treaty will be signed at the UN's Copenhagen Summit were finally extinguished yesterday when senior officials and politicians echoed US predictions that agreement would be delayed for at least six months.

Negotiators gathered at the final round of talks in Barcelona conceded that a legally binding treaty would now not be delivered until next year, with a UN meeting in Mexico in December now the most likely venue for the treaty to be finalised.

However, they insisted there were still hopes that a "politically binding" agreement could be reached in Copenhagen that contains clear emission targets for industrialised countries, commitments to improve forest protection and expand carbon trading, and a time line for delivering a legal treaty next year.

Source: Business green

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