Global climate talks here in Copenhagen have been shaken up with the news wealthy nations have drafted a secret agreement sidelining poorer countries and the United Nations. On Tuesday, The Guardian newspaper published details of a leaked agreement said to include the US, Britain, Denmark and a handful of others. The deal lacks binding emissions cuts and would allow rich countries to pollute nearly twice as much as poorer nations by 2050. After the document was revealed, dozens of African observers at the summit staged a protest inside the conference halls. Sudanese negotiator Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, the chair of the Group of 77 bloc of developing nations, said the proposals are unacceptable.

Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping: “G77 member states will not walk out of these consultations or negotiations in this late hour, because we cannot afford failure of Copenhagen. And let me just actually be very blunt. Ten billion dollars will not buy developing countries’ people enough coffins.”