US President Barack Obama and other world leaders threw support on Sunday behind a proposed two-step plan for December's climate talks in Copenhagen that would leave legally binding agreements until later.

'There was an assessment by the leaders that it was unrealistic to expect a full internationally legally binding agreement to be negotiated between now and when Copenhagen starts in 22 days,' a top US negotiator, Michael Froman, told reporters after a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Singapore.

The proposal -- spelt out to the leaders by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen -- would pave the way for a political accord in Copenhagen and put tortuous haggling over commitments on a slower track, but still with a deadline.

'Given the time factor and the situation of individual countries we must, in the coming weeks, focus on what is possible and not let ourselves be distracted by what is not possible,' Rasmussen told the meeting, which was attended by the leaders including from the United States, China, Japan, Russia, Australia and Indonesia.

'The Copenhagen Agreement should finally mandate continued legal negotiations and set a deadline for their conclusion,' added Rasmussen, whose presence at the Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore was a last-minute surprise.

Diplomats said the two-track approach would give breathing space for Washington to clear political hurdles over climate change legislation.
   

It would provide time for the US Senate to pass the climate bill in the first part of 2010, allowing the administration to bring a 2020 target and financing pledges to the table during a major UN climate meeting in Bonn in mid-2010.

'President Obama spoke in support of the Danish prime minister's proposal, and a number of other leaders cited the president's remarks in suggesting this was a constructive step forward and expressed their support for working with the Danes to try and achieve this sort of agreement in Copenhagen,' Froman said.

The December 7-18 Copenhagen talks were seen as the last chance for all countries to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012, putting in place painful measures needed to ease the pace of climate change.

The aim of the UN meeting is to set ambitious targets for cutting greenhouse gases, but also to raise funds to help poor countries tackle global warming.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, at the breakfast meeting, urged progress on the developed world offering funds and technology. Hu said developed countries should accept deep cuts and the developing world should contribute according to each nation's ability.
   
'Talks on the new treaty replacing the Kyoto Protocol are running with great difficulties. The participants of today's meeting stated that one can hardly expect the Copenhagen summit to end in signing of a binding comprehensive international treaty,' Arkady Dvorkovich, the chief economic aide to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, told reporters after the Singapore talks.

France and Brazil joined forces on Saturday to press the United States and China -- which together account for about 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions -- to make significant concessions at the Copenhagen summit.

In a joint document, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil urged rich industrialised countries to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 80 percent from their 1990 levels by 2050.

They called on emerging countries to seek low carbon growth and to take steps to slow the rate at which their greenhouse gas emissions rise by 2050, with 'substantial' financial help from richer countries.

'We will not accept a situation where we agree these measures and other countries say: 'We'll see tomorrow',' Sarkozy said.
   
But the latest draft Apec leaders statement has removed an earlier reference to halving emissions by 2050.

Rasmussen stressed in his comments to the Asia-Pacific leaders that a two-step approach would not lead to a partial agreement and would be binding.

'We cannot do half a deal in Copenhagen and postpone the rest till later,' he said. 'I do not share the view that it will be possible in Copenhagen to do some parts of the deal and not the other. We need the commitments. We need the figures. We need the action.' -Reuters