Full climate deal unlikely by Copenhagen: Barroso

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A full-fledged international climate deal to fight global warming will not be reached next month in Copenhagen but a framework pact is still possible, the head of the European Commission said Tuesday.

"Of course, we are not going to have a full-fledged binding treaty - Kyoto type - by Copenhagen," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters before meeting with President Barack Obama. "There is no time for that."

But Barroso said he believed it was still possible to develop a framework agreement with clear commitments from developed and developing countries.

Such a framework would include firm timetables for lower emissions from richer countries and an agreement on what actions developing countries will take, Barroso said.

Developed countries like the United States and EU members need to put "numbers on the table" for emission cuts and funding to help developing countries," he said.

The EU has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and to go as high as 30 percent depending on what others do, Barroso said.

But a month before the Copenhagen meeting, work in the U.S. Senate on legislation to address climate change has barely begun and is not expected to finish this year.

The Senate plan, which already faces stiff opposition, calls for a 20-percent cut in U.S. emissions from 2005 levels.