U.S. President Barack Obama has addressed the climate change conference in Copenhagen, saying all nations will "be stronger and safer and more secure" with a global climate accord.
Mr. Obama said world leaders must accept an accord, even if it is not perfect. He said nations can "be a part of an historic endeavor" or "fall back into" divisions.
President Obama and other world leaders are in a final day of talks at the conference, which has featured deep divisions between rich and poor nations over who should cut carbon gas emissions and who pays for anti-pollution efforts.
Negotiators worked overnight to hammer out an agreement cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which many scientists blame for global warming.
Media reports say an early text of a draft agreement does not mention deep emissions-cutting targets for industrialized nations, falling well short of the goal of a legally binding pact.
The reports say the climate pact is likely to call for preventing global temperatures from going up more than 2 degrees Celsius. Small island nations, worried about rising seas, have called for a cap of at 1.5 degrees.
Two of the biggest obstacles to an agreement are the U.S. refusal to propose deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and China's refusal to allow verification of its emissions cuts.
The White House says President Obama will meet on the sidelines with his counterparts from Brazil, China, Denmark and Russia.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday the climate conference is one of the most complex and difficult processes imaginable. But with time quickly running out, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says Mr. Obama would rather see Copenhagen end with no deal instead of a bad one.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Thursday that the United States would help launch a $100 billion annual fund to help developing nations cope with such consequences of global warming as rising sea levels.
But she says the U.S. offer hinges on whether those countries cut emissions and allow verification.
China says earlier agreements exclude it and other developing nations from what it says are voluntary emissions cuts. The Chinese also say the U.S. offer to cut emissions by 17 percent is not enough. U.S. negotiators say the Congress would not approve deeper cuts at this time. Secretary Clinton said Thursday the 17 percent is an initial step towards a 50 percent reduction by 2050.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.