Yvo de Boer (L), executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, addresses the latest round of UN climate change talks in Barcelona, Spain, Nov. 2, 2009.

The last negotiating session before the United Nations (UN) climate change conference in Copenhagen in December concluded Friday in Barcelona, Spain, making little progress in the key issues concerning climate change and leaving daunting task for Copenhagen.

Little progress was made on developed countries' targets of mid-term emission reduction and financing developing countries to limit their emission growth and adapt to the climate change effects, said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, at a press conference.

"Without these two pieces of the puzzle in place, we will not have a deal in Copenhagen," De Boer said.

"I look to industrialized countries to raise their ambitions to meet the scale of the challenge we face," said the UN climate chief. He also asked industrialized nations for clarity on the amount of short and long term financing they would offer.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a total of emission reduction by industrialized countries of between 25 percent and 40 percent from 1990 levels would be reached by 2020 in order to stave off the worst effects of climate change, with global emissions falling by at least 50 percent by 2050.

De Boer said that negotiators should present a final text with a strong and functioning architecture at Copenhagen to start rapid action in the developing world.

"Between now and Copenhagen (Conference), governments must deliver the clarity required to help negotiators complete their work," he said.

However, developed countries have been advocating for a new agreement to replace Kyoto Protocol during the negotiations, instead of putting forward ambitious emission reduction targets and discussing financial aid to developing countries in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

"The European Union's goal is a fair, comprehensive, legally binding and global climate treaty that covers all countries," said Anders Turesson, EU's chief negotiator at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

The reason why some developed countries want to have a new agreement is to force "major economies" or "advanced developing countries", i.e. China, Indian, Brazil and the like, to make internationally binding commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dividing the developing world, said Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, a senior member of the Sudanese delegation to the UN talks.

According to Di-Aping, another motivation of some developed countries is to lower the level of their emission reduction commitments.

At the Barcelona talks, many developing countries voiced their frustration at the lack of progress and grave concern about the developed countries' tendency to derail the Kyoto Protocol.

Li Ting, a member of the Chinese delegation to the UN talks, said: "We have reached no targets for the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol for Annex I contracting parties, as we all know this is the center piece of our task."

The opinion of the Chinese delegation was widely shared by representatives from developing countries and least developed countries such as Benin, Lesotho, Zambia and Solomon Islands at the closing session.

Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim, who spoke on behalf of Group of 77 at the closing session, declared that "the Group will strongly stand against all attempts by developed countries to reach an agreement which would in any way result in superseding the Kyoto Protocol or making it redundant."

The Copenhagen Conference, scheduled for Dec. 7-18, is aimed at setting the mid-term emission reduction targets for developed countries under Kyoto Protocol, and making substantial arrangements for the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Taking into account the deep rift between developed and developing countries, observers say the task of the Copenhagen Conference is daunting.