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Denmark discussing several targets for UN climate talks
COPENHAGEN, Nov 30 (AFP) Nov 30, 2009
Denmark is discussing various climate targets with key countries ahead of a UN summit that opens in Copenhagen December 7, the Danish minister in charge of the meeting, Connie Hedegaard, said Monday.

"The Danish government consults with various countries both bilaterally and multilaterally and different options are being discussed and tested," Hedegaard told AFP.

"Consultations in this final phase... are being held on a daily basis, but the negotiations do not start until next week," said Hedegaard, who served as Danish climate minister until last week when she was nominated as European climate commissioner.

Once the meeting starts, "if necessary (I) can table a compromise text," she added. Until then, the consultations are based on a variety of draft text proposals.

Denmark has invited 191 heads of state and government to attend the December 7-18 talks aimed at coming up with concrete measures to combat global warming, notably by arriving at a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, who hopes to reach a politically-binding deal applicable as of 2010, has on several occasions said he wants world leaders to agree to a 50-percent reduction of greenhouse gases from 1990 levels if the planet's temperature is to be limited to a two-degree rise.

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