Merkel: Climate Deal Needed In Copenhagen

GEIR MOULSON

BERLIN (AP) — Next month's climate summit in Copenhagen must produce a substantial agreement, and failure would set back by years efforts to fight global warming, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.

Merkel said the European Union has put forward a clear position on fighting climate change, and "we now expect contributions from the U.S.A. and countries such as China and India."

"A failure of the world climate conference in Copenhagen would set back international climate policy by years," Merkel said in a speech to parliament outlining her new government's agenda.

"We cannot afford that," she added. "A substantial political agreement is essential and the condition for an internationally binding ... protocol for the time after 2013. Time is pressing."

The Copenhagen conference, aimed at replacing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to curb emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming when it expires, starts on Dec. 7.

Merkel indicated that she would attend the meeting if success appeared likely. She did not define what a "substantial political agreement" would entail.