COPENHAGEN — A conference billed by some as the world's last chance to halt global warming and catastrophic climate change opens Monday in Copenhagen in an atmosphere of optimism among U.N. delegates and political leaders that a basic agreement can be reached now and a formal treaty hammered out later.
Many scientists and environmentalists worry, however, that whatever emerges will be too little and too late.
Formally known as the 15th conference of the parties, or COP15, under the U.N. Climate Change Convention, the nearly two-week conference of about 190 nations is expected to forge a basic agreement on a binding treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 2012 and 2015, with a final treaty to be decided hopefully by the end of next year, according to the United Nations.