World leaders have agreed a "meaningful agreement" on climate change, which aims to hold temperature increases to two degrees Celsius, but have also admitted it is not sufficient to curb global warming, a senior US official has said.
The un-named official has confirmed tonight that US President Barack Obama has reached a deal in Copenhagen with the leaders of the world's largest emerging economies, including China, India and South Africa.
The official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that it was an important first step.
The deal seems to be a holding deal in some respects, in that the parties involved seem to accept that some element of the deal will have to be built on later.
This was being received as a reference to next year's global convention on climate change in Mexico.
According to officials, developed and developing nations have agreed to a list of national actions and commitments.
Agreement has also been reached on a finance mechanism. A mitigation target of two
degrees Celsius has already been agreed.
According to the official, countries have agreed to give information on their emissions through 'national communications' with possibility of international consultations. This is a reference to the mechanism which has been used to address China's objections to verification demands from the United States.
The official accepted that no country is entirely satisfied with the agreement but described is a "historic step forward' to be built on later.
This deal, reached between the so-called constellation group of 28 powerful nations, will now be put to the full plenary session, where 194 countries are represented. It raises expectations that a final deal will be agreed tonight.
Earlier it was reported a new draft for a climate deal in Copenhagen had dropped a reference to a 2010 deadline for reaching a legally binding treaty that had been in a previous text today.
The new draft, obtained by Reuters, also introduced a name for the proposed agreement - the "Copenhagen Accord".
About 120 world leaders are meeting in the Danish capital seeking to unblock disputes over the previously unnamed text.
The three-page document, which would not be binding in international law, dropped a final paragraph in a previous draft that had said 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 degrees 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 2 degrees and in the context of sustainable development, enhance our long-term cooperative action to combat climate change," it said.
Two years of UN climate talks have reached their climax in Copenhagen today without a deal on carbon emissions cuts, as world leaders tried a last push to agree a new global climate pact.
President Barack Obama arrived in Copenhagen this morning and met a group of other world leaders, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei.
Mr Obama today urged world leaders to "act together" but did not offer new US commitments to cut emissions that some see as crucial to a deal.
The president reiterated the US offers, called for transparency from other countries in how their emissions curbs are checked, and he said the United States would continue to fight global warming regardless of what happened at the summit in Denmark.
"I believe we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of a common threat. That's why I come here today - not to talk, but to act," he said to applause. "As the world's largest economy and as the world's second largest emitter, America bears our responsibility to address climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility."
The United States has offered to cut its greenhouse gas emissions roughly 17 per cent by 2020 from 2005 levels or 3 per cent from 1990 levels. Those goals correspond to legislation passed by the US House of Representatives, and Mr Obama - who is eager to turn the bill into a law - did not offer more aggressive targets.
He acknowledged that deal texts circulating in Copenhagen were not perfect and did not give every country what it wanted, but he said that should not prevent a deal from being reached.
"There is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, we will do what we say," he said. "I believe it's the time for the nations and the people of the world to come together behind a common purpose. We are ready to get this done today. But there has to be movement on all sides."
"America is going to continue on this course of action to mitigate our emissions and to move towards a clean energy economy no matter what happens here in Copenhagen," Mr Obama said.
The United States and China, the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, have been at an impasse over finance, pollution-reduction goals and verification of emissions cuts. Mr Obama is calling for China and other nations to verify pledges to cut heat-trapping emissions. China has called the demand unfair.
"There is still no text for the heads of state to negotiate," a German negotiator told reporters after all-night talks. "There are no results on anything. We have only several drafts. It's very, very difficult. Time is running out."
The most powerful leaders of the European Union had joined together for an unscheduled meeting on the margins of the talks late last night, in an effort to bridge some of the outstanding issues. The meeting was called for by Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, current president of the EU, and José Manuel Barroso, the head of the commission. It involved the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Spain, and Poland.
It began immediately after a dinner attended by heads of government, including Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
At stake is a deal to avoid climate changes including more floods and droughts. The December 7th-18th talks in the Danish capital have battled intense suspicion between rich and poor countries over how to share out carbon cuts that may drive up energy costs and will force a shift from fossil fuels.
Negotiators working through the night to prepare a text agreed an initial draft which called for a two degree cap on global temperatures and at least $100 billion in aid for poor nations, sources said. But the all-night meeting broke up in the morning without a deal on the central element of a climate deal - the timing and degree of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
"It's still not there, it's confusing," said a senior European negotiator. "The situation is desperate," said a top Indian negotiator emerging from the talks to agree a text that could form the basis of a political statement at the end of the Copenhagen negotiations.
"There is no agreement on even what to call the text - a declaration, a statement or whatever. They (rich nations) want to make it a politically binding document which we oppose."
There appeared to be broad agreement on limiting the rise of global temperature below two degrees from pre-industrial era levels, but not how to go about it. Any final outcome could also include $30 billion in climate funds for least developed countries over and above a possible $100 billion a year funding by 2020.
A leaked document from the UN climate secretariat suggests that the world is heading for a rise of three degrees in average global temperatures, based on the target cuts in greenhouse gas emissions tabled by countries represented here.
Reuters