(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Copenhagen
early Thursday morning amid concerns that time is running out at the climate
change summit for world leaders to agree a deal to combat global warming.
Yvo
de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate official, admitted Wednesday evening that
negotiations had unexpectedly stalled and said that the next 24 hours would be
crucial.
The conference's Danish hosts had been expected Wednesday to table a
text intended to establish a basis for further negotiations. But de Boer said he
did not know if the Danish text had been tabled.
"The cable car has made an
unexpected stop," De Boer told journalists. On Monday he had said that the
"cable car" was halfway up the mountain and that the rest of the ride would be
"fast, smooth and relaxing."
Clinton is among dozens of senior-level figures
joining the negotiations in the final days in an effort to push the summit
towards a global deal limiting carbon emissions to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to join the talks Friday.
"The
Secretary and the President decided that she could play a useful role in helping
close gaps in our climate talks there by traveling to Copenhagen and personally
participating," a spokesman for the U.S. State Department said.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was among world leaders to arrive at the summit
Wednesday. He told reporters aboard his flight to Denmark that he intended to
assert China's "sincerity and determination" to work with the international
community to tackle climate change," according to the official Chinese
government Web site.
"I hope the meeting, with joint efforts made by various
parties, will yield fair, reasonable, balanced and achievable results," he
said.
Japan became the latest country to pledge climate aid to developing
nations Wednesday, offering $15 billion by 2012 to help vulnerable states
mitigate against the impact of global warming. Earlier in the week the European
Union pledged $9.4 billion for the same purpose.
Climate change activists
attempted to disrupt the summit Wednesday, resulting in around 250 arrests.
Protesters had hoped to get inside the Bella Center, where the talks are being
held, to set up a "people's assembly" but police used pepper spray and dogs to
contain the demonstrations.
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