Germany and Brazil said today they did not expect a climate summit in Copenhagen this month to produce a "dream agreement" but were confident participants would make progress in fighting climate change, according to Reuters. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed the summit must produce "robust results", especially an international commitment to limit global warming to a maximum 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. However, both leaders expected the summit would not produce their ideal outcomes. "I am sure that in Copenhagen we will not get the agreement of our dreams, not the agreement I dream of or Angela Merkel dreams of, but I am sure that we will take an important step forward," Lula told a joint news conference with Merkel. "I will do all I can so that Copenhagen is significant step forward, even if it won"t be ideal," Merkel added. China, the world"s top emitter of greenhouse gases, has demanded -- together with India, Brazil, and South Africa -- that richer nations do more to fight climate change. Merkel held out the possibility of European Union countries helping the big emerging economies do their bit to achieve the 2 degrees goal. "We know that if we as industrialised countries alone reduce CO2 (emissions), then the 2 degrees goal is no longer achievable and so responsibility lies with emerging economies," she said. "For the developing and emerging countries to be in a position to achieve this, we have to help them financially and technologically, and Germany and the European Union are ready for that," Merkel added.
