Tough bargaining still ahead at UN climate talks next week

COPENHAGEN (AP) — After a week of U.N. climate talks, some money is finally on the table, and a draft agreement has been circulated. Now the really hard bargaining begins.

The draft proposal was sent around Friday to the 192-nation conference, although it set no firm figures on financing or cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. And the negotiations on sharing the burden likely will go down to the wire and await the arrival of the world’s leaders next week.

To top it off, the United States and China — the world’s top two carbon polluters — even got into a battle of words.

“It’s time to begin to focus on the big picture,” said Yvo de Boer, the top U.N. climate official. “The serious discussion on finance and targets has begun.”

A much-disputed 188-page text was whittled down to a mere seven pages of stark options on how much global warming is acceptable and how deeply nations must individually and collectively cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Options ranged from nearly eliminating global emissions to cutting them in half by 2050.

The document forced countries to abandon long-held posturing on secondary topics and focus on crunch issues.

Starting today, environment ministers will be able to go through the 46 points of text one by one, checking off some and leaving the toughest for the 110 heads of state and government arriving at the end of next week.

Many countries voiced reservations about the structure of the document or some of its clauses. “But that’s all right. That’s what negotiations are all about,” de Boer said.