U.S. to seek climate framework, not legal pact: experts

Large numbers of U.S. lawmakers also reject the idea of a binding climate commitment for the United States without similar accords for major emerging powerhouses such as China. Taken together the two nations are the world's largest carbon dioxide emitters, amounting to 40 percent of the total output.

Todd Stern, Obama's special envoy for climate change, told U.S. lawmakers this week that the United States cannot commit to a deal in Copenhagen if “major developing countries make no commitment at all,” adding that “no country holds the fate of the Earth in its hands more than China.”

Some developing nations employ “dubious interpretations” of former climate change agreements “to prove they don't have any responsibility for action,” Stern lamented in November 4 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Despite such obstacles, the Copenhagen summit “might still present an opportunity to significantly advance the international climate effort,” Eileen Clausen, president of the non-profit organization Pew Center on Global Climate Change, told lawmakers at the same Foreign Affairs hearing.

“We have believed for some time that it would not be feasible to achieve a full, final ratifiable agreement in Copenhagen,” she said, noting that domestic issues for some nations including the United States will prevent them from bringing the “specific and binding commitments” needed for an ultimate deal.

But Clausen said the summit may be able to produce an agreement on the “fundamental architecture of a post-2012 framework, which would provide a basis for then negotiating towards specific commitments in a final legal agreement.”

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