Finance - billions of dollars immediately and hundreds of billions of dollars annually within a decade - was emerging as the key to unblocking an agreement that would bind the global community to a sweeping plan to combat climate change.
Nations also must commit to larger emission reductions, de Boer said.
Yesterday, South Africa became the latest country to announce an emissions target. It said that over the next 10 years it would reduce emissions by 34 percent from “business as usual,’’ the level they would reach under ordinary circumstances. By 2025 that figure would peak at 42 percent, effectively leveling off, and thereafter begin to decline.
“This makes South Africa one of the stars of the negotiations,’’ said the environmental group Greenpeace.
President Obama’s decision to attend the conclusion of the two-week conference, after phone consultations with other heads of state, was taken as a signal that an agreement was getting closer. He originally planned to make an hourslong stop in the Danish capital this week.
More than 100 heads of state and government have said they will attend the last day or two, making Copenhagen the largest and most important summit ever held on climate.
“Never in the 17 years of climate negotiations have so many different nations made so many firm pledges together,’’ de Boer said. “It’s simply unprecedented.’’
Obama said he would commit to an emissions cut of 17 percent, compared with 2005 levels, even though those Congress has not yet approved those reductions.
The United States can show flexibility, even if it cannot raise its emissions offer, said Jonathan Pershing, the senior US delegate at the talks. He said the Obama administration was showing its seriousness through budget allocations and regulatory actions on big polluters.
Pershing defended the US position as a radical change from its previous policy.
