Global Warming Talks Extend Into Wee Hours

Haggling over chemistry, calendars and the future of Earth’s atmosphere, European and U.S. negotiators worked through the night and into early Wednesday to save a historic deal to control fuel emissions across the industrial world.

The U.S. delegation to the global warming talks in Kyoto eased its position by offering deeper gas reductions, but clung to features of the proposed agreement that the Europeans called “loopholes.”

Despite their remaining differences, both sides sounded determined to succeed as the 9-day-old negotiations headed toward a deadline late Wednesday.

“We still have far to go,” said Stuart E. Eizenstat, the chief U.S. negotiator. “Nevertheless, we are hopeful that … we will be able to bridge the gaps.”

“I think we are making genuine progress,” Britain’s environment minister, Michael Meacher, said after key talks broke up about 2:30 a.m., to resume later in the morning.