Climate Talks enter high-level phase

Tuesday evening saw the opening of a new, high-level phase. Talks now aim to bridge deep differences as the conference becomes ever more urgent that leaders reach a global deal to fight climate change.

Differences need to be resolved. At the opening ceremony of the summit's high-level phase, Danish hosts and UN officials urged countries to compromise to salvage a new UN pact aimed at averting climate change.

Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister, said, "The world is watching us...."

Ministers are struggling to break a deadlock three days before world leaders are due to seal the accord. Time is pressing, but progress is just not enough.

Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said, "Now is the time to deliver. There has been some progress, but not enough to celebrate success. There has been some progress, but not nearly enough to present to the world as a success in Copenhagen. And we have almost run out of time. So we cannot continue to run over the same old ground, there is simply too much at stake."

Talks have stalled over disputes about the level of emissions to be cut by rich countries and a long-term global target to curb a rise in global temperatures.

The Copenhagen talks have also stumbled over a long-running rich-poor rift on addressing the threat of climate change.

Organizers of the talks say environment ministers will work deep into night to narrow wide differences, saying the bulk of the work must be complete before the arrival in Copenhagen of an expected 115 world leaders.