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ifferences between developing and developed nations grouped under the G77 are growing wider on almost all crucial issues, making it increasingly difficult for the climate talks to produce a consensus.

Indonesia, the former chair of the G77 at the 2007 Bali talks, proposed an "umbrella decision" as a win-win solution to prevent a deadlock on a new legally binding treaty in Copenhagen.

Under the proposal, Indonesia proposed "extra" time to reach a legally binding treaty as mandated by the Bali roadmap, to be reached next June at the latest.

"This *time frame* is more realistic for a politically binding agreement, given the huge differences among G77 member states," Indonesia's negotiator, Tri Tharyat, said on the sidelines of the G77 meeting here Monday.

Other G77 members have yet to respond to Indonesia's proposal. Countries such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa have rejected a proposal by host Denmark, which seeks to cap emissions.

Media reports say Denmark has set 2025 as a deadline for all countries to cap their emissions, irrespective of current levels, essentially blurring lines between developed and industrializing countries.

Denmark invited delegates from China, India, Brazil and South Africa to a closed-door meeting on Dec. 2 to discuss its proposal.

The four countries said any cap on emissions growth would hamper their rapid economic expansion, which relies on heavily polluting fuels like coal.

Indonesia, meanwhile, has not responded to the proposal.

We are not in a position to agree or disagree, because we have not seen a draft of the Danish proposal," Tri said.

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) at the G77 have also demanded compensation for potential business losses if they are asked to cut fossil-fuel production to deal with climate change.

In terms of adaptation, poorer nations in the group wanted any adaptation fund to go first to their countries, which have been deemed most vulnerable to rising sea levels and floods resulting from climate change.

Indonesia said it was urgent to make clear criteria on what constituted vulnerability of nations to severe impacts of climate change, saying with its huge amounts of coastal areas it was also vulnerable to rising sea levels.

The world's three-largest forest nations in the G77 group - Brazil, Congo and Indonesia - also expressed differences on financing sources for the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) scheme.

The Dec. 7-18 Copenhagen talks are aimed at drafting a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which is due to expire in 2012.

The G77, set up in 1964 and currently led by Sudan, has become a powerful lobby group in the international arena - including on issues of climate change.

In the negotiation room, the G77, comprising 136 countries, will discuss with other groups - from richer nations and members of countries with economies in transition (EIT) including the Russian Federation, the Baltic States and several Central and Eastern European States - ways it can achieve its agenda.

Richer countries remain solid at the climate talks, asking developing nations to also be involved in emissions cuts through voluntary actions.

Indonesia, China, India and Brazil have announced their emissions cuts targets on a voluntary basis, although not all rich nations have tabled their targets.

John Ashe, the chairman of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I under the Kyoto Protocol, emphasized the need to raise the level of ambition of developed countries with regard to individual targets and the need to make rapid progress on the tools and rules that developed countries can use to reach their targets, such as carbon market mechanisms, land use and land use change, and new gases.

"A strong, clear agreement that incorporates all outstanding issues under the Kyoto Protocol will have to be part of a successful Copenhagen agreement," he said.

Greenpeace International called on conference participants to agree to legally binding deals including emissions cut by richer nations of 40 percent by 2020; and the US$140 billion-a-year from industrialized nations to help developing countries deal with impacts of climate change.

Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said developing countries should also reduce their projected emissions growth by between 15 and 30 percent by 2020, with the support of richer nations.