"The latest round of preparatory talks for the U.N. climate conference concluded today with negotiators lamenting that the languid pace of talks could mean there won't be a deal on emissions in Copenhagen this December.

'It would be incomprehensible if this opportunity were lost,' said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. For any hope of a deal, he said, 'the speed of the negotiations must be considerably accelerated at the [next] meeting in Bangkok.'

The United States' lead climate negotiator, Jonathan Pershing, added to the warnings.

'If we don't have more movement and more consensus than we saw here, we won't have an agreement,' Pershing said."

Paul Voosen reports for Greenwire in the New York Times August 14, 2009. [2]