OBAMA FOR USA

President Obama warned UN delegates at the Copenhagen summit Friday that "we are running short on time" to hammer out an agreement on climate change.

"There is no time to waste," Obama said. "Now I believe it's the time for the nations and the people of the world to come behind a common purpose. We are ready to get this done today, but there has to be movement on all sides."

But U.S. officials were not optimistic about reaching a major climate deal after negotiators met through Thursday night and into Friday morning.
Obama referred to the emerging political deal as a "framework" rather than an "agreement" and admitted a wide divide exists between the world's haves and have-nots.

"No country would get everything that it wants," he conceded.

After his remarks, Obama met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for 55 minutes in a room at the Bella Center and "made progress," a White House official reported. The official called the discussion "constructive," and said the two men touched on all of the three issues which Obama raised during his speech: emissions goals from all key countries, verification mechanisms, and financing.

Obama and Wen asked their negotiators to get together one-on-one after the meeting, as well as with other countries, "to see if an agreement can be reached," the official added.

Asked if the two had achieved a breakthrough, the official said "they took a step forward and made progress."

He said the hope is to reach an agreement before Obama returns to Washington later Friday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama recognizes that he will leave Copenhagen with something less than a full-fledged treaty on climate control and would settle for "a political agreement that would lead to a treaty."

On the table is a deal calling for the world's wealthiest nations to transfer about $30 billion over the next three years - and up to $100 billion by 2020 - to developing countries to help them cope with the effects of climate change.

"We can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, and continue to refine it and build upon its foundation," Obama told delegates of the 193 nations at the summit.
Pollution cuts and the best way to monitor them remain unresolved and negotiators have yet to agree on just what legal form a future deal would take.

When he arrived in Copenhagen Friday morning, Obama changed his schedule and held closed-door talks with 19 other world leaders in an attempt to salvage the talks, which broke down Wednesday after the Chinese delegation rejected U.S. demands that emission-reduction pledges be subject to international review.

"I don't know how you have an international agreement where we all are not sharing information and making sure we are meeting our commitments," Obama said, without mentioning China. "That doesn't make sense. It would be a hollow victory."

Obama's visit is fraught with poitical risk.

The U.S. deal hinges on passage of a Cap and Trade bill in Congress, which by some estimates could saddle American ratepayers with higher energy prices ranging from $1,300 to $7,000 a year.

Conservatives argue that the bill will put U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage against China and India, and more manufacturers are likely to move production offshore.

Liberals are likely to say Obama's targets are not aggressive enough and that carbon offset projects in developing nations could limit the rights of indigenous people to their native lands.

Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate official, said early Friday that a political declaration needed to include a deadline for agreeing on a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, whose modest emission cuts for 37 industrialized nations expire in 2012.

The U.S. rejects the Kyoto accord and would be covered by a separate agreement, if one is reached.

"You can reach an agreement here that sets out major political contours, a long-term goal, targets for industrialized countries, engagement by major developing countries, financing," de Boer told The Associated Press. "But people will want to see a clear deadline that turns that into a legally binding instrument."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, struggling to put a positive spin on summit chaos told negotiators that "the finishing line is in sight," adding that "the world is watching."
By Thomas M. Defrank and Brian Kates
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER