Bali: Word of a compromise

Despite the best efforts of the American and Chinese representatives, the Bali Climate conference may end up being something more than a huge waste of time.

The U.S. and Europe headed toward a compromise solution Friday at the U.N. climate conference, breaking a deadlock over how ambitious the goal should be in negotiating future cutbacks in global warming gases, the German environment minister said.

"I think the situation is good and the climate in the climate conference is good, and we will have success in the end," Sigmar Gabriel told reporters, declining to give details of the talks.

The outcome may help determine how high the planet's temperatures rise for decades to come.

In the final day of the two-week conference, delegates sparred over the wording of a conference final document until 2:30 a.m. Drafters then retired to craft new formulations in contentious passages - notably the European Union's suggestion of a goal of emissions reductions from 25 percent to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Trying to break the deadlock, Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar - the conference president - later proposed revised language dropping those mid-range numbers but still reaffirming that emissions should be reduced at least by half by 2050.

[source]