THE chances of a climate change treaty being signed in Copenhagen are fading fast as it emerges that the US legislature is running out of time to agree on targets and that critical issues - including targets for the developed world, financing for the developing world and the agreement's legal language - remain unresolved.
Although British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed this month that there was no plan B, the major participants have begun manoeuvring on how to stage-manage failure at Copenhagen and to set a new deadline for a treaty. With just five negotiating days left in Barcelona, those watching the process closely say there are so many important issues unresolved that a completed treaty is now impossible by December.
The executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo De Boer, admitted as much last week. ''We need to have a realistic level of ambition,'' Mr de Boer said. ''We have only five days of negotiations left. To assume you can negotiate a full-fledged treaty in five days is unrealistic.''
The US-based Pew Centre on Climate Change's president, Eileen Claussen, who monitors progress in the US and internationally, said: ''There is only one more week and I think everyone knows, we will not end up with a completed international agreement. Yvo De Boer said it, and I think it's good he did.''
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