U.N. climate talks focus on how to cut emissions

BARCELONA, Spain — African nations pushed wealthy countries at U.N. climate talks on Wednesday to explain how they intend to cut their greenhouse emissions under the landmark global warming agreement being negotiated.

Yet as delegates from 192 nations retreated behind closed doors in Spain, fears arose over just what will be accomplished this year on fighting climate change.

Sweden's prime minister said achieving a legally binding pact was probably impossible this year, while the prime minister of Denmark said failure to reach a deal next month as planned would be "a massive disappointment."

A flurry of diplomatic activity on a new climate deal reflected high tensions worldwide as two years of negotiations approach a climax at a major climate conference opening Dec. 7 in Copenhagen.

The conference had been due to anoint an agreement to regulate emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming, but that deal seemed increasingly unlikely this year because the United States is not ready to commit to a specific reduction in emissions until Congress enacts a climate bill.

An emotional plea for action by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in an address before the U.S. Congress was met with silence Tuesday from most Republicans, while Democrats stood and applauded.

Republican senators also shunned the planned start of voting on amendments to a 959-page Democratic bill that would curb greenhouse gases from power plants and large industrial facilities. They protested that the bill's cost to the economy — in the form of more expensive energy and the impact on jobs — had not been fully examined.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the European Union presidency, lowered expectations further after meeting President Barack Obama in Washington.

Reinfeldt told Swedish Radio from Washington that "a legally binding agreement, like we have advocated in Europe, it's simply not possible to deliver."

The host of the Copenhagen conference, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, said it will be difficult to regain momentum if the deadline is missed. He urged heads of government to step in to achieve a breakthrough.

"If we disappoint, it will be a massive disappointment, a setback where one will not be able to see how we can build that power again," Loekke Rasmussen told reporters.

In Barcelona, a five-day conference preparing the text for Copenhagen resumed work after African delegates boycotted several meetings on Tuesday to press their demand that industrialized countries must raise their targets for cutting emissions.

Talks were held in small informal sessions from which reporters were barred.