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Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The proposal drawing the most
attention and criticism at the United Nations climate-change
talks in Copenhagen never got put on the table.

The formula for slowing global warming, circulated by
Denmark before the two-week negotiations started Dec. 7, has
generated a stir because Denmark is the host country for more
than 190 nations, striving to be neutral.

The plan, leaked more than a week ago, is flawed because it
was drawn up outside the UN process without input from poorer
nations, said Kim Carstensen, head of the global climate
initiative at environmental group WWF. UN climate chief Yvo de
Boer issued a statement saying the paper is “informal” only.

“It has been dealt with in closed circles, closed meetings
without proper representation from all groups,” Carstensen told
reporters yesterday. “It is being seen by developing countries
as an attempt to accommodate the interests of the U.S. and other
developed countries.”

The document, obtained by media including Bloomberg and
non-governmental organizations, proposes that the global deal
being negotiated in Denmark’s capital limits warming to 2
degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) since industrialization began,
a goal shared by many corporations and trade groups.

The proposal is garnering so much attention in part because
Denmark is hosting the climate negotiations, giving it oversight
of the final text of a deal, said David Waskow, climate-change
program director of Oxfam America.

‘Profoundly Destructive’

The UN chief played down its importance compared with
proposals that are officially admitted to negotiating tables.

“This was an informal paper ahead of the conference given
to a number of people for the purposes of consultations,” de
Boer said in his statement. “The only formal texts in the UN
process are the ones tabled by the chairs of this Copenhagen
conference at the behest of the parties.”

The draft was circulated among envoys from the U.S., the
U.K. and Denmark, The Guardian newspaper reported.

Lumumba Di-Aping, a Sudanese envoy who speaks for 130
developing nations and China, criticized the proposal and said
the UNFCCC is the only legitimate forum for debates.

“The proposal makes itself a laughing stock,” Quamrul
Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi delegate said today in an interview.
The behavior of the Danish hosts is “funny” and their text
doesn’t include the “massive public feeling” in poorer
nations, he said.

Su Wei, China’s lead negotiator, said he hadn’t seen the
Danish document.

Climate Aid

“The draft Copenhagen agreement is profoundly destructive
-- it violates the principles of the UN negotiations,” Andy
Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said in an
e-mailed statement. “The Danes holding secret back-room
meetings with a few select countries is also deeply
disappointing.”

Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister who’s chairwoman of
the talks, on Dec. 7 denied there was a specific proposal for
the final outcome of the meeting.

“There isn’t one text; there are lots of different issues
circulating where we try to consult with different parties,”
Hedegaard said. “The draft text that might eventually be
accepted here is for a later stage.”

The proposal also includes provisions for developed nations
to channel $10 billion a year for the next three years to help
developing nations cope with the immediate effects of climate
change and early steps to bring down their emissions.

Bangladesh’s Chowdhury said his country alone will need $9
billion a year to build sea defenses, protect farmland and take
efforts to lower emissions. Bangladesh is classed by the UN as a
least-developed country, or LDC, and Chowdhury coordinates the
position on finance and adaptation of the 49 LDCs.

“It’s not even inadequate, it’s minuscule,” Chowdhury
said of the $10 billion. “We will require $9 billion per annum.
There are 49 least-developed countries. What happens to the rest
of them?”

Developed countries would inscribe absolute emissions-
reduction pledges in one annex, and developing nations would lay
out their actions and the “emissions outcome expected” from
their policies.

“I think they’ve looked too much toward the U.S. and too
little toward what the developing countries were wanting to see
and that was a big tactical mistake,” Carstensen told Bloomberg
Television. “I think they have now gotten the signal from
developing countries that we want to see something different.”

‘A Distraction’

Envoys at the UN talks are discussing how to extend or
replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that limits emissions in 37
developed nations. Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen
has said he wants leaders to reach a “strong political
agreement” by the end of the summit on Dec. 18, when U.S.
President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown come
to Copenhagen.

“The Rasmussen text is a distraction,” Martin Kaiser,
Greenpeace International climate political adviser, said in an
e-mail.

“Rasmussen needs to get serious and focus on solving the
roadblocks that have been caused by the industrialized countries
refusing to agree on deep cuts in emissions, long-term finance
for the developing world and a legally binding outcome in
Copenhagen,” Kaiser said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Morales in Copenhagen via
amorales2@bloomberg.net
Kim Chipman in Copenhagen via
Kchipman@bloomberg.net .