UN official warns strife will hinder climate talks

Yvo de Boer, head of the UN climate change secretariat, also said it could take months before poor countries begin receiving billions of dollars in emergency funds to adapt to climate change and begin controlling their emissions of greenhouse gases.

A $30 billion fund over the next three years, scaling up to $100 billion a year by 2020, was a key element of the deal brokered by President Obama with the leaders of China and other major developing countries at the 193-nation conference, which ended last weekend.

But the brief Copenhagen Accord was vague about how the money would be raised or handled, saying only that it would come from “new and additional resources,’’ rather than existing aid packages.

“I do not see that funding being disbursed until we have decisions on how that money is to be managed and what it is to be for,’’ de Boer said. That cannot happen until another round of United Nations negotiations, which so far is not due until June. Extra meetings could be scheduled before then, however.

The Copenhagen deal was negotiated in marathon closed-door sessions on the final day of the two-week conference among a select group of fewer than 30 countries. The three-page document was “noted’’ by the full conference after five countries blocked its formal adoption.

Since then, several countries at the center of the bargaining have distanced themselves from the accord.

Sweden’s environment minister, speaking for the European Union, called the conference a disaster. Britain accused China of vetoing the inclusion of specific emissions targets. China, dismissing Britain’s charge of “hijacking’’ the conference, accused London of fomenting discord among developing nations. South Africa said the failure to produce a legally binding agreement was unacceptable. Brazil criticized the funding for developing countries as inadequate.

“I don’t think we are benefited by countries pointing fingers at each other,’’ de Boer said. “The same countries will have to sit down together at the negotiating table next year, and it’s better that they do that in a good atmosphere without recrimination.’’