De Boer says Copenhagen Accord deadline is 'soft'

"I think you can describe it as a soft deadline, there's nothing deadly about it," Yvo de Boer said at his first news conference since last month's climate conference in the Danish capital. "If you fail to meet it, you can still associate with the accord afterwards."

The Copenhagen Accord fell short of expectations ahead of the conference, but included collective commitments by developed countries to provide billions of dollars in emergency funds to help poor countries adapt to climate change. It also invited countries to formally associate themselves with the document and list nonbinding targets to cut emissions by Jan. 31.

The three-page document was only "noted" by the full conference in Copenhagen after five countries blocked its formal adoption by consensus.

De Boer, who heads the U.N.'s climate change secretariat, called the accord "a political tool" that can be used in negotiations leading up to the next U.N. climate conference in Mexico at the end of the year.

"Copenhagen didn't produce the final cake, but it left countries with all the right ingredients to bake a new one in Mexico," de Boer said in briefing Webcast from Bonn, Germany.

Critics say the accord was a failure and that world leaders missed a key opportunity to make binding commitments to stave off dangerous warming that could result in melting of glaciers and ice-caps, the flooding of coastal cities, more extreme weather events, drought and the spread of diseases.

But De Boer said that considering that scientists believe global emissions must be cut in half by mid-century, "I don't think that Copenhagen or indeed Mexico is going to be the last word on climate change."

Asked whether the Democrats losing their super-majority in the U.S. Senate would affect a future climate agreement, de Boer noted the U.S. position had advanced significantly since a "highly skeptical George W. Bush" rejected international climate talks.

"I think the change of one state from one party to another is not going to cause a landslide in the politics of the United States on the question of climate change," de Boer said.