The top U.N. climate official says a new global warming agreement must be legally enforceable because rich countries have broken too many promises to the developing world in the past.
Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. climate change secretariat, told the AP that developing countries are concerned industrial nations will fail to deliver on promises to financially help them adapt to climate change and cut their own carbon emissions.
The question of what legal force a climate treaty should have and whether developing countries also should accept enforceable commitments is one of the hurdles to an agreement due to be concluded next month.
Delegates convening Monday for a final negotiating session believe the December deadline is now out of reach.
