NYT

COPENHAGEN — The top American envoy to climate talks here flatly rejected arguments Wednesday by diplomats from poor lands that the United States owes a debt to developing nations for decades of American emissions that contributed to global warming.

It was not the first time that the American negotiator, Todd D. Stern, had dismissed the notion. But his words highlighted the divide that persists between the poor and the wealthy as nearly 200 nations try to sketch the outlines of a new pact on climate change here.

Asked about arguments by diplomats and some protesters that the United States should provide hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to developing nations as reparations, Mr. Stern, the special envoy for climate change, bluntly fired back at a news conference.

“I actually completely reject the notion of a debt or reparations or anything of the like,” he said. “For most of the 200 years since the Industrial Revolution, people were blissfully ignorant of the fact that emissions caused a greenhouse effect. It’s a relatively recent phenomenon.”

At the same time, he made clear that the United States was prepared to join other industrialized countries both in cutting their own greenhouse gas emissions and in giving aid to the poorest and most vulnerable countries to deal with rising seas, drought and other phenomena that are expected to worsen as the planet warms.

Mr. Stern also demurred at a persistent proposal among some larger developing countries that the United States and other major emitters of long standing provide financial aid to emerging economic powerhouses, particularly China, to shift to cleaner energy technologies.

“China has $2 trillion in reserves,” said Mr. Stern, whose arrival in Copenhagen on Wednesday suggested that the talks, which run through Dec. 18, were moving into a more significant phase. “We don’t think China would be the first candidate for public funding.”

The framework for a potential accord must be in decent shape before top ministers arrive to prepare for the more than 100 heads of state, including President Obama, who will come to close out the negotiations at the end of next week.

For Mr. Obama and other leaders who have made action on climate a priority, the pressure is enormous to produce an agreement that has enough concrete commitments to be considered politically binding and pave the way for a formal treaty next year.

Reflecting the pressures on Mr. Obama, Lisa P. Jackson, the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, defended the president’s record in a speech at the climate conference and made a pointed jab at Bush administration policies.

“In less than 11 months since taking office, we have done more to promote clean energy and prevent climate change than happened in the last eight years,” she said.

She cited investments under the fiscal stimulus bill, new fuel emissions standards for cars and her agency’s finding that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide pose a danger to public health, a decision that gives it regulatory power over emitters.

Ms. Jackson also sought to assure delegates that the Obama administration would press Congress to pass climate and energy legislation that is stalled in the Senate. The delays have fostered unease about Washington’s willingness to set emissions targets or ratify a global treaty should one be reached in 2010.

Across Copenhagen, police officers are meanwhile gearing up for protests. The police reported that they raided a building early Wednesday in the city’s Osterbro section and confiscated paint bombs and equipment like bolt cutters that they said demonstrators were readying to overcome barricades. No arrests were reported. A large-scale march is planned on Saturday.