COPENHAGEN, FRIDAY
A new draft for a climate deal in Copenhagen has dropped a reference to an end-2010 deadline for reaching a legally binding treaty that had been in a previous text on Friday.
The new draft, obtained by Reuters, also introduced a name for the proposed agreement — the "Copenhagen Accord".
The three-page document, which would not be binding in international law, dropped a final paragraph in a previous draft that had said that negotiations on a full, legally binding treaty would have to be completed by the end of 2010.
The text stuck to previous goals, including one of limiting world temperature rises to a maximum rise of two Celsius above pre-industrial times to avert impacts such as floods, heatwaves, species extinctions and rising ocean levels. "We shall, recognising the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be below two degrees and in the context of sustainable development, enhance our long-term co-operative action to combat climate change," it said.
The draft still left blank key elements such as the depth of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions expected of developed nations by 2020.
—Reuters
