"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)
As Climate Treaty Deadline Nears, Nations May Settle for Interim Steps
Source: NYTimes, 10/21/2009