Gordon Brown pushes for 'Plan B' Copenhagen deal

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was tonight leading an attempt to salvage some form of deal from the Copenhagen Summit in the form of a "Plan B" agreement committing countries to pledges made in the past week on climate funding and long-term emission targets.

As negotiations became increasingly frantic and growing numbers of officials hinted that China was proving the main barrier to a deal, Brown told reporters that he was now pursuing a "Plan B".

He said that "there is still a lot of work to be done", but hinted that it was still possible to agree a deal on areas where there is considerable consensus, such as proposals for $100bn (£61bn) a year of climate funding for poor nations by 2020.

Brown added that talks could continue into tomorrow and that he was preparing a smaller meeting of leaders if the latest round of talks between around 30 leaders failed to deliver agreement.

Meanwhile, President Obama was scheduled to address the summit following a private meeting with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.

Officials said that China was continuing to resist calls for an independent monitoring mechanism for greenhouse gas emissions. There were also reports that the talks had been complicated after Wen took offence at Obama's speech this morning in which he launched a series of thinly veiled criticisms at China's position, and pointedly reminded the summit that China now emitted more carbon than the US.

Conflicting stories also continued to emerge about the prospects of a deal. Reuters reported that India's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, had said that an agreement was close, but other sources insisted that a deal was unlikely before the early hours of Saturday morning.

The developments follow a day of high drama, during which the talks repeatedly teetered on the edge of co llapse, and conflicting reports fuelled confusion over whether the negotiations would continue into the weekend.

A series of tense meetings between world leaders has continued all day with deep divisions remaining between rich and poor nations, and the US and China locked in an epic stand-off over the issue of independent verification of countries' greenhouse gas emission claims.

A number of draft agreements were released throughout the afternoon and early evening, but they sparked outcry as it emerged that ongoing disagreements meant that many of the texts offered only vague commitments to cut emissions by 2050 and some even ditched a pledge to ensure that a legally binding treaty would be signed next year.

The day started poorly when President Obama, Chinese premier Wen Jiaboa and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh each addressed the summit, but offered no new commitments to cut emissions. However, each of the leaders also said that their existing pledges to cut carbon emissions or carbon intensity were unconditional and would continue even if the summit failed to produce an international deal.