UN Seeks $10 Billion Aid As Good Start To Climate Pact.

"Aid of $10 billion from rich nations would be a "good beginning" to launch a U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December, the United Nations' top climate official said on Thursday. Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, also told the BBC World Service in an interview that rich countries needed to pledge deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and the poor had to slow the rise in their emissions. But cash was needed to kick-start a deal...." [Reuters/Factiva]

BBC adds that "...De Boer was less keen to put an exact figure on the levels of emission cuts the biggest economies should commit to. Some scientists have called for a 25-40 percent reduction by 2020 - a proposal he describes as 'a good beacon to be working towards.'

As well as the hard cash and paper pledge from developed nations, success at Copenhagen will come from one other factor, he revealed. 'If on that piece of paper, China, India, Brazil and other major developing countries have offered national actions, that will significantly take their emissions below business as usual... that for me will be a success.'..." [BBC News]

In related news, Kyodo reports that "...UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Friday there could be no success in reaching a new global climate agreement at December's climate conference without a contribution from China.... 'Without China there can be no success this year on a new global climate framework,' Ban said at a signing ceremony to launch a project on energy-efficient lights. 'With China, there is an enormous potential for the world to seal a deal in Copenhagen,' he said...." [Kyodo/Factiva]