**Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen has said there must be firm pledges on greenhouse gas reductions at December’s climate talks in Copenhagen.**Mr Rasmussen said he wanted delegates to put “numbers on the table” and reach a “concrete and binding” agreement.
The summit will attempt to draw up a new global climate treaty to replace the UN’s 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
Earlier, US President Barack Obama said the US and China agreed on the need for a comprehensive deal in Copenhagen.
Speaking in Beijing after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Mr Obama appeared to raise hopes that such an agreement could be reached.
“Our aim there is not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all of the issues in the negotiations and one that has immediate operational effect,” he said.
RICHARD BLACK
“We are into a miasma of nuance here; but for different parties, all of the nuances are important”
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The comment seemed to be at odds with a much less ambitious statement from world leaders, including Mr Obama and Mr Hu, on Saturday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum.
Then, leaders failed to agree a target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and instead said they viewed the Copenhagen summit as a “staging post”, rather than an end point.
But Mr Obama’s remarks appeared to chime with those of Mr Rasmussen.
“I am glad that the Danish strategy was supported today in Beijing at the Chinese-American summit… it confirms that we have taken the right stance,” Mr Rasmussen said, following preparatory talks involving environment ministers from 44 countries.
The agreement “should be concrete and binding on countries committing to reach targets”, he said.
“Copenhagen should neither be a stopover nor a tiny stepping stone, as some proclaim.”