US, India, China seal deal on climate change

Copenhagen: US President Barack Obama has reached a deal on climate change with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao and South Africa's Zuma, a US official said on Friday night.

The official called it a "meaningful agreement" but said it was not sufficient to fight climate change.

However, it is an "important first step" the official added.

The US official also said that both developed, developing nations have agreed to list national actions and commitments.

"No country is entirely satisfied with agreement, but it is historic step forward to be built on later," the US official said, adding that countries "agreed to give information on their emissions through national communications, with possibility of international consultations.

The official also said that an agreement was also reached on a finance mechanism, with a "mitigation" target of 2 degrees Celsius.

After a deal went through, President Obama said, "We have much further to go in the fight against climate change, this progress is not enough."

He added that the agreement will not be legally binding, but will have countries lay out their emissions targets.

He also said that because of weather reasons, he would return to Washington before a final vote at the UN summit.

"A consensus will serve as foundation for global action on climate change for years to come," Obama stated.

He added that the US would not be legally bound by agreement in Copenhagen, but reaffirmed US targets on emissions cuts.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, "Climate talks have reached an agreement that includes the whole international community."

Earlier on Friday evening, India's Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh had said that world leaders were close to sealing a non-legally binding agreement on global warming at the Copenhagen Climate Summit.

The world summit on climate change went down to the wire on Friday night with negotiators guided by heads of governments around the world making vigorous attempts to come out with a deal on fighting the challenge of global warming.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was scheduled to leave the Danish capital by early Friday evening, was back at the conference venue like President Barack Obama delaying their return home.

They altered their travel plans as UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon gave a call to world leaders to defer their departures by a day.