Halve world carbon emissions by 2050: Danish text

The world should agree to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 from 1990 levels as part of a UN climate pact in Copenhagen in mid-December, according to a suggested text by hosts Denmark.

The text said rich countries should account for 80% of the global emission cuts by 2050. But it did not spell out shorter-term emission targets for rich countries, a key demand from poorer nations.

India, the world's number four emitter, said it opposed the suggested text. Denmark, meanwhile, insisted it was merely consulting and had made no formal proposals for breaking deadlock between rich and poor nations at the December 7-18 meeting.

"If the Denmark draft is any indication then we are heading to a dead end," Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters in New Delhi.

China and India have opposed agreeing to a goal of halving world emissions unless rich nations, which have burnt fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, take the lead by setting far tougher reductions by 2020.

"The Danish government has not put forward a proposal," Danish prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen.

Danish Climate minister Connie Hedegaard, who will preside at Copenhagen, told Reuters earlier that consultations were "based on a variety of draft text proposals". She added that Denmark would not propose any formal compromises until the meeting.