The five days of talks that began Monday are the last preparatory dicsussions before the December 7-18 conference in Copenhagen will seek an agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse emissions.

The possibilities of a breakthrough were regarded as very slight after the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boer, said a legally binding agreement was no longer possible in Copenhagen.

"The clock has almost ticked down to zero and, as always, time will fly," de Boer said ahead of the conference's start. "These last five days are critical on the road to success to Copenhagen. They need to be used wisely."

After two years of talks, many points remain open, with negotiators hoping for a non-binding political agreement at best. De Boer said he wants Copenhagen to agree on four elements: individual cuts in emissions for rich nations, action by poor nations to slow their rising emissions, new finance and technology for developing nations and a system to oversee funds.

Skip the plenary procrastination

The talks could yield an initial response to finance proposals agreed upon by the European Union leaders last week.

The EU said developing nations would need 100 billion euros ($147 billion) worth of aid annually by 2020. But the bloc's leaders did not mention how much of that money would be coming from Europe.

Danish Minister for Climate and Energy Connie Hedegaard called on participants at the Barcelona talks to "cut the plenaries short and go directly to smaller negotiating groups and informals" to spur progress.

"Your job now is to create clear options for politicians, clear options across the building blocks, in order for ministers to decide in Copenhagen," she said. "The work can no longer wait."

Greenpeace: USA the main problem

Demonstrators from the environmental organization Greenpeace climbed up cranes at the building site of the unfinished Temple of the Holy Family, hanging up banners urging the meeting to "save the climate."

German Greenpeace representative Martin Kaiser described the United States as "the main problem" in protecting the climate.

After US President Barack Obama reinvigorated the climate debate and promised that his government would be a global leader in fighting climate change, Washington had not set sufficient goals in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and made "no concrete pledges" to developing countries in helping them finance measures to combat climate change, Kaiser told the German Press Agency dpa in Barcelona.

The United States, which has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, could no longer get "special treatment" in dealing with the climate crisis, Kaiser said, stressing the need for "binding international goals and rules."

The British charity Oxfam on Monday also called on the United States as well as European nations to pony up funding to flight climate change.

"Europe and America's fair share of this global total is around 35 billion euros each per year, based on their historical responsibility for creating the climate crisis and financial capacity to tackle it," the group said in a statement.

sms/dpa/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Sam Edmonds