Live: minute-by-minute coverage of crunch day at Copenhagen

Philippe Naughton in Copenhagen and Nico Hines
52 COMMENTS
RECOMMEND? (30)
2240 To wrap up, I've seen most of the text and here is what it says:

It sets a target to keep global temperature rises to below 2C above pre-industrial averages. No specific target for "global peaking" despite demands from EU nations and environmentalists that global emissions should be in decline from 2020.

Developed nations to submit targets for 2020 emission cuts which will be included in an appendix. Delegates say that won't be done for a month.

Developing countries will also come up with voluntary targets but unless they receive international funding to meet those targets verification will be done via "national communications". Mr Obama compared the regime with the way the WTO measures countries' adherence to world trade accords.

RELATED LINKS
Leaders could delay departure from Copenhagen
China won't allow scrutiny of its statistics
Copenhagen talks 'went backwards overnight'
MULTIMEDIA
Text: draft Copenhagen Accord
IN PICTURES: two weeks in Copenhagen
DEBATE: what now for the environment?
$10 billion in short-term funding to 2012 and a pledge to mobilise $100 billion a year by 2020.

Not sure of the exact wording on what happens next, ie to make it a legally binding treaty, but Mr Obama made it clear that was a long way off.

2145 Mr Obama's comments to White House press pack are coming over on the wires and it's a bit confusing.

He calls it a "meaningful and unprecendented breakthrough", but admits not enough progress was made. He says that the agreement will not be legally binding on the US (or, presumably, anyone else) but America would stick to its promises on carbon emissions.

A legally binding agreement will be "very hard" and "take some time".

2134 A European diplomat says that industrialised nations have put off a decision on their 2020 carbon emission targets - so the Copenhagen Accord is born with a bit of a gaping hole in it. More details emerging all the time.

2110 A senior US official says the leaders have reached a "meaningful" accord although there's no sign of a text yet. He admits that it won't solve the problem by itself but says it's a first step.

The European Union delegation are giving a press conference soon, so it should become clearer.

The British are not quite confirming a deal. A UK official said: "There has been real movement this evening and we're hoping that a deal can be done tonight. We are now confident we can get the 2 degree target agreed."

2014 I was sitting here, eating a chicken sandwich and thinking, 'I wonder what the Tories' position on all this is', when up pops the answer in my inbox - a statement from the Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Greg Clark.

"It is important that talks go on as long as is necessary," Mr Clark says. "An inadequate agreement, rushed out in order to meet some arbitrary finishing time, would be worse than no agreement at all."

A passionately-held opinion and valuable contribution to the debate from the man who could be in charge of UK climate policy at the next one of these jamborees. Hold the front page.

1935 First bit of excitement here for a few hours. A rumour swept through the media centre that Mr Obama was going to give a press conference and almost immediately hundreds of journalists rushed through the Bella Centre into the main auditorium used for such events. Some 400 reporters and TV crews packed into the room but after about ten minutes two harassed Danish officals managed to get into the room to explain that no Obama press conference had been scheduled. Dozens of journalists left the room. Most stayed, just in case.

1830 Looking at the latest draft - which is the one Greenpeace must have been reacting to, and it does indeed read a bit like a G8 communique. Let's gut it a bit and try to see who's come out on top from the various tussles over the past fortnight. Remember it's only a draft.

Firstly the name: Copenhagen Accord. That is stronger than the Copenhagen Declaration or somesuch, so it is an international agreement, which makes it binding in at least a moral sense.

Winners: the Danes, unless this treaty is trashed in which case they might ask for its name to be changed.

There's no explicit binding target on temperature - just a recognition of the "scientific view" that limiting temperature rise to 2C would "enhance our long-term cooperative action to combat climate change".

Winners: Oil producers. Losers: Small island states, LDCs, the planet as a whole

A new clause further down the document says later reviews of the Copenhagen Accord would look at a target of 1.5C.

Winners: Tuvalu and the low-lying islands (if that review ever takes place)

The parties agree that that deep carbon emission cuts are required, according to the science, and "with a view to reduce global emissions by 50 per cent in 2050 below 1990 levels, taking into account the right to equitable access to atmospheric space".

Winners: the emerging economies including Brazil will be pleased by that last clause.

No specific target on "global peaking" (the point at which emissions peak - a crucial target for scientists) which the UK had wanted to be set at 2020. Instead the text says: "We should co-operate in achieving the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible, recognising that the time frame for peaking will be longer in develoing countires and bearing in mind that social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries..."

Winners: Again, China, Brazil and other emerging economies such as India. There's no target on their peaking.

Developed countries commit to reducing their emissions individually or jointly by at least 80 per cent by 2050. Individual 2020 targets to be listed in an appendix (which is still blank). Verification to be rigorous, robust and transparent. The EU was offering the 80 per cent target.

Winners: In the longer term, the planet.

But there is no overall target on emission limits or "mitigation actions" by major emerging economies, such as China, India and Brazil. An earlier draft today set a 15-30 per cent target. Instead individual country targets will be listed in an appendix to the accord. Countries will be asked to report on their progress every two years via national communications - but there's no comeback if they're lying.

If countries want international support for their mitigation actions - China and Brazil have made clear that they don't - then they face international measurement.

Winners: China and Brazil. Losers: US and EU

Caveat: there is a square bracket [Consideration to be inserted US and China], which suggests that this battle is not yet over.

Funding: developed countries are promised "scaled up, new and additional, predictable and adequate funding" to help them avert and cope with climate change. They will get $30 billion in "fast start" financing over the next three years and the developed countries also "support the goal of mobilising jointly $100 billion a year by 2020. This funding will be a mixture of public, private , bilateral and multilateral and "alternative" - ie market-based - finance. The multilateral funding will be channeled through trust funds on which developed and developing countries have equal representation.

Winners: developing countries, especially the Africans and small island states. Developed world will be happy to have flexibility in funding

There will be a review of this accord and its implementation by 2016, including the 1.5C target. But there is no commitment to making it a legally binding international treaty and no mention of the next COP meeting in Mexico City next year, which an earlier draft had suggested should be held within six months.

Winners: China and G77 countries, which wanted to avoid new international treaty - but, interestingly, the only mention of the Kyoto Protocol, which they want to keep, is in the preamble, which endorses the decision that the KP working group should continue its work on a new round of commitments by developed countries under that pact. That omission could be read both ways.

Overall winners: You do the math.

1733 If you want to know where we stand on the (various) texts circulating, here is our latest story . And this is the most recent draft we have snaffled.

1730 (From Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent) UK diplomatic sources confirmed there had been a major setback after China took huge offence at remarks by President Obama over the need to independently monitor every country carbon emissions.

In his speech President Obama said: "Without any accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page" - remarks the Chinese interpreted as an attempt to humiliate them, prompting Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to return to his hotel.

President Obama will now hold a second round of talks with Mr Wen in an attempt to patch up the disagreement.

1708 Greenpeace are none too keen on the new draft. The group's climate campaigner, Joss Garman, said: “This latest draft is so weak as to be meaningless. It’s more like a G8 communique than the legally binding agreement we need. It doesn’t even include a timeline to give it legal standing or an explicit temperature target. It’s hard to imagine our leaders will try to present this document to the world and keep a straight face.”

1639 Ed Miliband has Tweeted some breaking news from inside the conference centre. "Rumour runs round that the talks have broken up. . . it’s true – but only so we can all go to the loo," he wrote. Followed swiftly by: "Back in for more talks soon. Just got caught by BBC and Channel 4. Haven’t slept since Wed night."

1625 Hang on a minute, we're now hearing that delegations have been asked to stay the night if needed. Perhaps the Danish hosts, who are desperate to see the Copenhagen Accord come to life, have made the request. But it's unlikely that Barack Obama, who was only planning to spend a few hours on the ground, will be ringing around for a hotel.

1616 Good news for those delegates who have had enough of the chicken or hoummous sandwiches which are the staple fare at the Bella Centre. The UN has formally denied asking world leaders to extend their stay in Copenhagen because of a deadlock, which means that Gordon Brown could be making snowmen in the garden of No 10 tomorrow morning.

The scare had originated from the EU Environment Commissioner Stavors Dimas, who told reporters that Ban Ki Moon, the UN chief, had asked people not to leave tonight because he wanted a deal.

1555 More from the new draft text - although we should make clear that there might be other texts circulating so this might not be the one that counts:

Funding targets of $30 billion in "fast start" funding over next three years with the most vulnerable countries - the poorest countries and the small island states, for example. Developed countries also "support a goal of mobilising jointly $100 billion a year by 2020" to help developing nations more widely.

Interestingly, the draft says that the medium-term funding will come from "a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance". The money would be delivered through trust funds governed equally by representatives from developed and developing nations.

A key point is left to the final paragraph: this draft commits the parties to carrying on their negotiations "with a view to adopting one or more legal instruments under the the Convention ideally within six months or no later than December 2010". Delegates said that paragraph did not appear in a later draft - which suggested that it remained a bone of contention.

1548 Right, key points from the new Copenhagen Accord:

Worldwide emission cuts of 50 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050

Developed world emission cuts of 80 per cent by 2050. Individual country targets to be confirmed in an appendix. The aggregate cut of developed nations in comparison to 1990 and 2005 baselines have yet to be defined, but that would fall into place once individual numbers are confirmed.

Emerging economies to work towards targets representing a cut in projected "business as usual" emissions of between 15 to 30 per cent. "Some of these actions are taken unilaterally while some are conditional on financial, technology and capacity-building support."

1530 A new draft text has emerged at the talks, which drops the previous reference to a deadline of the end of 2010 for reaching a legally binding treaty - which will not please those countries and groups campaigning for a strong agreement. The text also introduces a name for proposed agreement, the "Copenhagen Accord".

We're just going to wade through the document.

1521 Mr Ban has asked world leaders to plan to stay overnight in Copenhagen because of the deadlock, according to Stavros Dimas, the European Union Environment Commissioner.

1503 On the fringes of the summit, Shimon Peres has met the Polish Prime Minister Donal Tusk to discuss the theft of the "Arbeit macht frei" sign from the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.

"The sign holds deep historical meaning for both Jews and non-Jews alike as a symbol of the more than one million lives that perished at Auschwitz," President Peres reportedly told Mr Tusk. "The State of Israel and the international Jewish community ask that you make every effort to find the criminals and return the sign to its place," he told Tusk.

1448 Interesting analysis of the Obama speech from Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, who's a bit more charitable than Greenpeace and ActionAid.

"I think the speech may have been calibrated not to put some things on the table at this point, because of the hard-ball negotiations going on, the state of play he was flying into," Mr Meyer said. "I know they were considering some additional elements which weren't forthcoming."

"We're hopeful that the (Wen-Obama) bilateral may have cleared some of the air and laid the groundwork for agreement on some of the issues. If China and the United States see more eye to eye on some of the flashpoint issues that has to be helpful."

1431 It emerges that Mr Obama and Mr Wen have had a bilateral meeting. A senior US official said they moved a "step forward" towards a possible deal.

The two men discussed greenhouse gas emission targets, financing and the issue of verification - and then both leaders directed their negotiators to work further on a deal.

1353 Here's the draft text after the first round of meetings this morning: without clear emissions targets, funding and all the other stuff they are hammering out now. It should form the basis of whatever comes out of this summit - although there are plenty of other texts in negotiators' briefcases.

1341 ActionAid are next in line to criticise Mr Obama. Tom Sharman, the organisation’s climate justice coordinator, said: “Obama has said nothing to save the Copenhagen conference from failure.

"The US is the one major player yet to move. Developing countries have come here to negotiate in good faith, but feel they have been cheated and it looks like they will leave empty handed.”

1328 The informal plenary is closed. It's lunch. The negotiations continue behind closed doors with nary a Latin American revolutionary to be seen, unless you count Mr Lula.

1324 Mr Chavez is in a green frame of mind: he recycles a joke he made from the same podium only two days ago (and which Gordon Brown borrowed yesterday). "The people on the street say that if the climate was a bank it would have been saved already."

1321 Mr Chavez is on fine form. He says Mr Obama has the "Nobel Prize for War" and says: "I can still smell the sulphur in the room." (That last one is a Bush-era classic)

1320 Back in the hall, Mr Chavez starts with an attack on Mr Obama. “He came, he spoke and then he went out through that little door over there” – he says pointing theatrically stage left.

Mr Obama “is the Emperor who comes in the night,” he says. “And cooks up a document that we won’t accept.”

He criticises the President for coming to Copenhagen, dominating proceedings briefly and then heading off through the back door. "That's how the Yankee Empire is going to disappear - through the back door."

1317 While Mr Morales speaks (he is being followed by Hugo Chavez, his fellow firebrand), just a quick update on the bigger picture. A group of 25 leaders including Mr Obama and Mr Brown are in a private session trying to hammer out an accord although it is not clear what is being offered to bring the Chinese onto a stronger agreement.

The question is, will they agree a weak political statement and sign up to it, or fly home and let their negotiators carry on over the weekend so they can come up with a weak piece of paper with their leaders safely home?

From a personal standpoint, I'd prefer the former, by about a million miles.

1310 Greenpeace agree that President Obama has done little to improve the situation. Phil Radford, the executive director, says: “The world was waiting for the spirit of yes we can, but all we got was my way or the highway.

“President Obama crossed an ocean to tell the world he has nothing new to offer, then he said take it or leave it. By offering no movement on US global warming pollution cuts he showed his disregard for the science and the victims of climate change in the United States and abroad. He now risks being branded as the man who killed Copenhagen.

“He said all parties must move, but he offered no movement."

1307 Mr Morales is making his third speech from the podium in as many days and complains that "presidents who arrive at the last minute" are trying to impose a deal.

Any idea to whom he might be referring?

He complains that the text is being negotiated by a small group of leaders in a way that it not inclusive.

He then picks up on a remark from Mr Obama that 'we have not come to talk, we have come to act.'

The Bolivian adds: "If we wish to act then i have to ask you: starting from now please fulfil the Kyoto Protocol, starting from now, all the money which is earmarked for war should be devoted to saving lives."

"Are we going to save lives or are we going to kill?" he asks.

1302 Connie Hedegaard says meeting is running late and lunch is now. Family photo is delayed but Evo Morales of Bolivia wants to speak. He is always entertaining.

1301 Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, is in battling mood. “We have come here to fight for an ambitious outcome,” he says - seeming to imply that others have not.

“We should not be seen making the traditional diplomatic negotiations,” he says. “These negotiations are a test for global responsibility.”

It’s a test we appear to have failed.

1253 Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish Prime Minister, speaks for the European Union. He adopts a stern tone when he tells delegates that they cannot afford to let this opportunity slip.

He reminds the conference that the EU has decided to cut its emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 on 1990 levels and is willing to go to 30 per cent if a meaningful agreement is reached. It has also offered billions in short term and medium term financing.

"The time has come for others to deliver," he says, naming the US and China as the world's biggest emitters. "They must do their bit."

1248 For the leader of exactly the kind of small island nation at risk from rising sea levels, the Prime Minister of Grenada sounds remarkably upbeat.

As Tillman Thomas speaks, however, it becomes clear that the impression of positivity is limited to the cadences of his voice.

He urges fellow leaders to heed “the moral imperatives of saving the plant”.

“The job is not yet done," he says. "We have not yet arrived at strong ambitious and legally binding outcomes.”

1240 Next up is the Japanese Prime Minister, Yuko Hatoyama, who speaks in English and appeals for a last-ditch attempt to seal a deal, not just a piece of paper.

He reminds delegates that Japan had offered to reduce its emissions by 25 per cent by 2020 and had offered $15 billion in funding over the next decade - as long as a proper global deal can be done.

The PM says the leaders should at least come up with a "robust political agreement" or risk being a "shame to the world".

"I intend to spare no effort in this endeavour and I call on all of you here to day to join together to realise this historic goal."

A heartfelt plea.

1238 Next up in the main hall is Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, the continent's big emerging economy. "Climate change is a practical matter for the developing world, especially Africa," he tells his fellow leaders.

Mr Zuma calls for a just deal in which developed countries, "historically responsible for about 80 per cent of the emissions currently in the atmosphere", pull their weight, and developing countries play their part, with appropriate help.

South Africa's emissions will be reduced by 42 per cent from "business as usual" projections by 2025.

Mr Zuma welcomes the progress made in Copenhagen and the fact that it has been able to isolate the agreements and disagreements and says the talks must move on "with speed" to conclude a legally binding treaty.

He seems to have given up on anything meaningful being agreed today.

1236 From Sam Coates, our Chief Political Correspondent: "The more polite amongst the officials call it a melee. The more direct ones describe it as chaos.

Even the basics of a deal are still unclear - some countries are dragging their feet over signing up to limit temperature increases to 2 degrees by 2020.

For 105 painful minutes this morning, leaders including Mr Brown and Mr Obama tried to get the talks back on track, going point by point through the text of a draft agreement released at 8am this morning.

Danish PM Rasmussen did his best to keep the meeting in order but as he went through the outline of the agreement, they were blocked by the Chinese at every turn.

One UK witness expressed surprise that the two Chinese negotiators intervened "after every point of substance."

Irritation set in as the Chinese as they made clear the language in the draft agreement on "verification" - the mechanism that allows the international community to verify countries live up to their carbon emissions - was still completely unacceptable.

By 11.15, the frustration was palpable so Rasmussen called for an hour-long break, strongly backed by several world leaders."

1228 Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, attempts to be bullish and persuasive but he's talking to delegates who no longer have much say in the process - the real negotiations are going on behind closed doors between some of the most powerful men on the planet.

Mr Zenawi has cooperated closely with Mr Brown and Europeans to get agreement on funding.

“We all know what the proposals are and the decisions we have to make are," he tells the hall.

He says doing nothing is not an option: “That would be tantamount to genocide by inaction.”

1224 A rather downbeat assessment, shrouded in optimism, from Lee Myung-Bak, the President of South Korea: “In a few hours the Copenhagen meeting will come to a close - this is not an end but a new beginning.” In other words - nothing meaningful will be agreed today - but maybe one day...

1215 Back in the hall, President Medvedev takes the floor and predictably, there are no great fireworks. He calls for the process to be taken forward for a legally binding treaty founded on principles acceptable to developing and developed world but one which actually works.

He says that Russia is a world leader in cutting emissions, cutting by 37 per cent since 1990 or half the world's emissions cuts since that time.

He does not say: obviously it's easy to cut emissions if your economy collapses.

1213 A UK official has just warned that time is running out. "The Prime Minister is committed to the very last minute. The prospects for a deal are not great. There is a risk of failure."

1212 A small group of leaders, incliuding Mr Brown and Mr Obama, have gone back into private session again to try to salvage a deal. The pressure is all one way: on China.

12.05 Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, seems to be suffering from a very dry mouth. In between audible gulps, he says the Kyoto protocol should continue to stand as a working document, insisting that we should not replace it with weaker commitments.

He says it is vital that developing nations are given the required help in meeting targets on emissions. “Equitable burden sharing should therefore underlie any effective climate change regime,” he says.

“Each one of us gathered here today accepts that those most affected by climate change is least responsible for it. . . we must address this injustice.”

12.01 Colombian President Alvaro Uribe starts slowly by listing his own nation’s accomplishments, particularly in the arena of biofuels.

But now he’s got the delegates to sit up and listen: “I’d like to draw your attention to drug trafficking,” he says.

OK, then.

“Drug trafficking has destroyed more than two million hectares of our forest – drug trafficking destroys the forest and the jungle," he says, refusing to follow everyone else's proceedural approach. “Whenever a citizen in an industrialised nation consumes cocaine - he is destroying one of the world’s lungs”

1153 Next up is Pakalitha Mosisili, the Prime Minister of Lesotho, representing the least developed countries.

"To say that we are disappointed is indeed an understatement," he says - but goes on to give quite an upbeat statement.

The PM complains that there is no legally binding agreement coming out of Copenhagen despite two years of talking since the last summit in Bali two years ago.

"We have not lost all hope," he says. Consultations will continue after Copenhagen and what was agreed here is still meaningful and useful and provide the basis for a binding regime "in the near future".

Thanks Mr Rasmussen for his leadership - not echoed from the floor - and also applauds Mr Obama for his leadership "that has enabled that great country to join the rest of the world this time around in addressing climate change".

"Together we shall win."

1144 Mr Obama adds: "The time for talk is over. This is the bottom line., we can embrace this accord, take a signifiant step forward... or we can choose delay... and we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year, perhaps decade after decade and all the time while the danger of climate change becomes irreversible.... Now is the time for the people of the world to come together in a common purpose."

Polite but not wildly enthusiastic support from delegates. Mr Obama did not pull any rabbits out of the hat, but argued powerfully that an agreement is there for the taking.

1141 As world's biggest economy and second biggest emitter, America recognises its responsibility, which is why its already transforming its economy, Mr Obama says.

He says that switching to cleaner energy is in America's economic self-interest and is also a question of security. "Whatever happens here in Copenhagen we believe it is good for us and good for the world. But we also think that it will also be better if we all act together.

"After months of talk, after two weeks of negotiations, after innumerable side meetings, bilateral meetings, endless hours of discussion by negotiators, I believe that the pieces of an accord should be there."

That should mean all major nations giving clear targets on emissions limits - as America has done, he says.

But those targets should involve transparency, not in an intrusive way but not undermining sovereignty or you only have "empty words on a page".

Thirdly an accord must include financing. America will be part of "fast start" funding ramping up to $10 billion by 2012 and longer term finance up to $100 billion by 2020.

Transparency, mitigation and finance. It's a clear formula... and it adds up to a significant accord.

But time is short, he says: "'The question is whether we move forward together or whether we split apart. Whether we prefer posturing to action.:

"We know the faultlines because we've been imprisoned by them for years."

1134 President Obama takes to the podium: "We come here to Copenhagen because we know that climate change poses a very grave risk to our people...This is not fiction, this is science.

"The question is not what the challenge is but how to tackle and "our ability for common action is in doubt."

1132 "Brazil did not come here to bargain," Mr Lula adds. "We don't need foreign money for our targets - we can meet them with our own resources. And we are willing to go one step further."

Wants an agreement that will sing out to the four corners of the world that "we are prepared to save the planet Earth".

Loud applause. The Brazlian journalists here in the press room are applauding too. Mr Rasmussen thanks him and says that Mr Lula is one of the "wise men" needed for a deal.

Obama next.

1130 President Lula continues: "I never forget that when I took office in 2003 my commitment was that each Brazilian should have something for breakfast, something for lunch and something for dinner. For the developed world, three meals is in the past: it was achieved long ago."

That goes down well in the hall.

He then addresses one of the last sticking points, especially with the Chinese: independent verification on the table.

"It is true that those countries who will contribute with funds have the right to transparency, they have the right to demand compliance, but it is also true that we need to be very careful with this intrusion."

He pulls a surprise: says that Brazil is willing to give money to the financing proposals if that helps get an agreement at this conference.

"What we dont agree with is that the most important figures on planet earth sign a document, just to say 'We signed a piece of paper."

"Since I believe in God, I believe in miracles, and I want to be part of that miracle."

Electrifying stuff from the Brazilian.

1124 Mr Lula adds: "It's also important that we, the developing countries, when we think in money, we should not think that someone is doing us a favour. Let's not think that they are giving us something we are begging for: the money on the table is to pay for greenhouse gas emissions over the past two centuries... It is not a bargain between those who have the money and those who do not have the money. It's a much more serious commitment."

He says everybody agrees on a 2C target for limiting average temperature rises, but "some people are even bargaining with those targets".

1120 President Lula of Brazil takes his turn: his country is not just an emerging economic superpower but also has more rainforests than anyone else. And he is not happy.

Mr Lula says: "I should say very bluntly to all of you that I am a little bit frustrated. Why so? Because for a long time we have been discussing the climate change issue and more and more we see that the problem is even more severe than we could ever have imagined."

He says Brazil's targets - a reduction of about 38 per cent on "business as usual" to the year 2020 - are very bold and backed by legislation. Brazil has also taken the commitment to reduce deforestation of Amazon by 80 per cent by 2020. All this despite being a developing country with economic problems. Mr Lula says Brazil will spend $166 billion on those actions.

"I had the pleasure of particiapting last night until two o'clock in the morning in a meeting which I have to say I did not expect to participate... Sincerely, to submit heads of state to certain types of discussion such as the one we had last night, I have not seen for a long time."

1116 Mr Wen says the Copenhagen agreement must follow three principles:

- Consistency of outcomes: ie keep the Kyoto Protocol.

- Uphold fairness of rules: principle of fair but differentiated repsonsiblities. Inadmissable to turn a blind eye to historic responsibillties.

- Stick to practical targets: recognising current difficulties rather than setting long-term targets.

He reasserts China's "voluntary" target to limit its carbon intensity and says that is not related to Copenhagen. Whatever is achieved here, he says, "we will be fully committed to reaching and even exceeding our target."

1114 That translation: he says that billions of people are around the world will be watching what happens in Copenhagen and fully realises the huge responsiblity on his shoulders. He then lists China's achievements in turning to renewable energy and tackling carbon emissions.

1112 Wen Jibao is the first of the visiting national leaders to speak. He is, however, doing so in his native tongue - so we have no idea what he is saying. But when the translation comes in, we are not expecting him to have hit back at Sarkozy.

1107 Ban Ki Moon is next up. "Never has the world united on such a scale," he says. "We are united in purpose, now is the time for us to be united in action."

The UN chief says there are only hours left to seal a deal. "I count on your leadership and your commitment."

1101 There follows a rousing call to arms from the Danish PM. "It is not very often that we as leaders get a chance to chart out a new course for our planet. We stand before one of those defining moments of our history."

1056 Mr Rasmussen welcomes the leaders to informal session. He explains that this is an informal meeting and there will be a formal meeting later in the day.

He gets started with a statement, beginning: "Ladies and gentlement, Copenhagen is covered in snow. The cold weather makes for a beautiful, almost fairy tale-like setting. But we are here today to confront a very different reality: our planet is warming."

1051 Ban Ki Moon has just been named and shamed in the hall - "right now we are waiting the Secretary-General's arrival" bored delegates are told after lengthening delays. This will not be the end of the finger pointing

1050 Western leaders have deliberately avoided pointing the finger at China during the negotiations to prevent a hardening of positions that could threaten an accord but President Sarkozy has broken ranks, saying that China was blocking agreement on verification of emission limits.

The discussions lasted all night without interruption," Mr Sarkozy told reporters. "The good news is that they're continuing, the bad news is they haven't reached a conclusion. There is a lot of tension."

1039 This morning's session which we're waiting to get started is not actually a plenary: it's an "Informal High-Level Event Convened by the Prime Minister of Denmark".

Informal, presumably, so that he doesn't have to listen to endless procedural interventions from the Chinese, Sudanese et al.

You can follow it here

1029 Three Greenpeace activists who gatecrashed last night's leaders' dinner with the Queen of Denmark are in trouble.

"We have decided to charge them with illegally entering state property as we regard this as a serious incident and they will be brought before a court," a police spokesman told AFP.

The three were nabbed at the Danish parliament, where Queen Margrethe II was hosting a turkey banquet. They drew up in a chauffeur-driven limousine in tuxedos and a red silk ballgown (the female one) before unfurling banners reading: "Politicians Talk, Leaders Act".

That was their fatal mistake. They should have mingled, had their pictures taken, gone home and put it all on Facebook.

1025 The delay becames a bit clearer: Mr Obama and 25 other leaders, including Gordon Brown, are holding a last-ditch meeting to try to hammer out an accord.

1013 Very downbeat comments from Andreas Carlgren, the Swedish Environment Minister who has been leading the EU delegation:

"My impression is that through the whole process the real problem has been on the one hand the United States, who are not able to deliver sufficiently. Now they have started, but they came very late.

"On the other hand you have China, and they delivered less. And they have been really blocking again and again in this process, followed by a group of oil states. That's the real differences, the real confrontations behind this.

"And the great victims of this is the big group of developing countries. The EU really wanted to reach out to the big group of developing countries. That was made impossible because of the great powers."

There seems to be two things left to settle: the status of what is agreed here (Is it in any way binding? Can it be translated into a proper legal treaty?) and the level of emission cuts and targets. Pretty fundamental issues.

0952 While we wait for it to begin we should remind you that Mr Obama has been in Copenhagen before, on October 2, to lobby the IOC on behalf of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics. That trip was not a success: Rio de Janeiro got the nod instead.

The Brazilians have had an official delegation here of no less than 700 people, largely because they took all their NGO activists as official delegate to ensure them access, and you can hear Portuguese more than English. The Brazilians have also been at the heart of the negotiations, battling hard to extract the maximum deal on carbon credits for reforestation - even to the extent of blocking progress on the new competing technology of carbon capture.

0946 More on the latest draft agreement put together this morning: it agrees a target to limit global warming to maximum 2C backed by $100 billion a year to help developing nations cope.

"Deep cuts in global emissions are required," it says.

But the developed nations' commitments to greenhouse gas emission cuts by 2020 are left blank - presumably to be filled in by the leaders at today's plenary. Are we about to see a dramatic round of new commitments? How far could the Europeans go?

0938 Flashing up on Reuters: DRAFT TEXT-SUPPORTS "CONTINUING NEGOTIATIONS" AFTER COPENHAGEN TO ADOPT ONE OR MORE TREATIES NO LATER THAN END 2010

Which sounds like nothing has really been agreed.

0935 The poor old Danes have come in for a lot of stick at this conference, acccused by the Third World delegations of being a US proxy trying to impose a deal that would kill off the Kyoto Protocol. But they can't be blamed for some of the undiplomatic mispronunciations when stand-in chairs from other countries took over yesterday to present world leaders: Mahnmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was introduced as Mahmoud Am-ama-mamadinejad and Andreas Papandreou, the urbane Greek PM, as Andras Papa-papa-papandroo. Neither looked too pleased.

0931 Our sources tells us that Mr Obama will be addressing the conference once it gets under way. Nothing dramatic expected at this point.

0917 Some of the microphones are switched on and all we can hear from the conference hall is a lot of manic laughter (that's what $100 billion a year does for a negotiation in its final hours). The voice of an earnest European woman can be heard saying: "I hope we are really trying today."

No comment.

0912 Quote from Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden, whose country holds rotating EU presidency: "There are deep differences in opinion and views on how we should solve this. We'll try our best, until the last minutes of this conference."

0908 World leaders are filing in for a plenary session of the conference and another chance to grandstand and point fingers. Hugo Chavez is shaking hands with Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier. It's not clear whether Barack Obama will make a statement, but if he does, and it includes any further commitments on emissions, that might help things along.

0856 This morning's newspapers all discuss a leaked document from the UN secretariat which analyses the likely effects for the planet of the deal emerging from Copenhagen. The main effect would be a 3C rise in average global temperatures, which is way beyond the comfort zone for the global ecosystem. The conference is aiming towards an official target of 2C, although it's not the kind of thing you can really legislate for. More than 100 nations threw their weight behind a call from tiny Tuvalu for the rise to be capped at 1.5C, but they were persuaded against that.

You can download the document here from the Guardian site, or print it out and do your bit to speed the temperature rise up.

0850 We've heard many times over the past couple of weeks that climate change is the defining issue of our times, the greatest threat to mankind.

So whatever happened to the threat of global nuclear war?

Well there's some good news on that front. Russia's Interfax news agency has reported in the past few minutes that an outline agreement has been agreed to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1). Presidents Medvedev and Obama are expected to seal the deal on the fringe of the Copenhagen summit later today.

You wait ages for a bus and then two come along at once.

0845 The daily newsletter put out by the NGOs in Copenhagen (who have finally been shut out of the conference) always has an ironic tag. Last week, after the Danish hosts denied the existence of a draft text that everyone had in their hands, they called it the "Non-Existent Issue". Today's is the "Precipice Issue".

The main headline is "Making history in Hopenhagen" - which gives us an idea: can you do any better? How should we headline our stories from Copenhagen? Answers below. No prizes, except for the knowledge that some desperate sub-editor somewhere in the world might actually borrow your idea.

"Cop-Out" is already taken.

0830 Sam Coates, our Chief Political Correspondent who is travelling with the Prime Minister, tells us that Gordon Brown returned to the Bella conference centre last night after dining with the Queen of Denmark (scallops, turkey and date cake) and continued the negotiations with the leaders of 26 "representative" countries, including Hillary Clinton, President Sarkozy and the Danish Prime Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

Get this: at 1am the PM's office tweeted: "Late night haggling with 30 leaders. Tough, but we're determined to crack it."

An hour later, the Prime Minister ordered Ed Miliband, the Climate Change Secretary, to stay up all night to continue negotiations (as if he'd go to bed).

Mr Brown himself was up before 6am today, meeting the inner core of leaders hoping for a deal, known as the Circle of Commitment, as they waited for Mr Obama to join the talks.

0815 Good morning and welcome to Times Online's live coverage of what is meant to be the final day of the Copenhagen climate summit.

We have 119 heads of state or government here including, just arrived in town, Barack Obama and the idea is that they sign some kind of global climate deal this afternoon.

The problem is that they haven't actually reached one yet despite negotiating through the night on a draft text, so it will be up to the leaders themselves to do a bit of the heavy lifting.

"The situation is desperate," an Indian negotiator said this morning. "There is no agreement on even what to call the text - a declaration, a statement or whatever."

But this was always expected to go down to the wire, so stick with us,