The world’s richest nations will have to put US$10 billion “on the table” during the Copenhagen climate change summit, if the negotiations are to succeed, said Yvo De Boer, head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

 

Such a pledge by developed counties “will allow developing countries to begin preparing national plans to limit their own emissions, and to adapt to climate change,” De Boer told the BBC World Service’s One Planet programme.

 

He was less keen to put an exact figure on the levels of emission cuts the biggest economies should commit to. Some scientists have called for a 25-40 percent reduction by 2020 – a proposal he describes as “a good beacon to be working towards,” according to the BBC.

 

“If on that piece of paper, China, India, Brazil and other major developing countries have offered national actions that will significantly take their emissions below business as usual… that for me will be a success,” De Boer is quoted as saying.