Leaders of the United Nations conference on climate change extended the meeting an extra day, until Saturday, in hopes of reaching an agreement, but key issues remained divisive, and many countries blamed the United States for putting the negotiations at risk of failure. The meeting was designed to hammer out details of the 1997 conference held in Kyoto, Japan.
Sinks are forest and agricultural land that absorbs carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is one of the major greenhouse gases, which scientists say are gradually accumulating in the atmosphere and forcing the planet to heat up. The warming is melting glaciers, pushing up sea levels and causing recent flooding and severe storms, some scientists say. While industrialized countries now produce the lion's share of greenhouse gases, emissions from developing countries will outstrip them within two decades. Under the proposal, countries that produce the most emissions would be the largest contributors to the fund. Critics contend the United States could wipe out more than half the emissions reduction target it set at the Kyoto conference by using ''loopholes'' such as sinks and emissions trading.