Delegates Discuss Way Forward in UN Climate Talks

Activists of anti-poverty group Oxfam wearing masks of world leaders fron left to right: British...

Activists of anti-poverty group Oxfam wearing masks of world leaders fron left to right: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spain's Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, perform during the Climate Change Talks in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. Barcelona is host the final round of climate talks before December's Copenhagen UN climate summit. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

(AP)

U.N. climate negotiators in Spain are discussing a formula for securing agreement among 192 nations on tackling global warming during a last day of talks before next month's major climate conference in Denmark.

European nations are downplaying expectations for a legal treaty to come out of next month's summit in Copenhagen.

Instead, negotiators are working to hammer out a political agreement that would allow rich nations to make commitments that are not legally binding. The shift follows acknowledgement that several countries, including the United States, may not be politically ready to sign a legal pact by next month.

The head of the U.N. climate secretariate, Ivo de Boer, says any decision accepted at Copenhagen would be "morally binding."

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