EU agrees climate funding deal

BRUSSELS: European Union leaders on Friday reached a deal on how to help developing nations tackle climate change, but without putting a figure to Europe's contribution, officials said.

"We have an agreement," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, at the end of a two-day European summit in Brussels. "The EU now has a strong negotiating position and the countdown to Copenhagen now has started," he added, referring to international climate talks in Denmark in December.

The EU leaders agreed that developing nations would need 100 billion euros ($150 billion) worth of help annually by 2020 to tackle climate change and to deal with its consequences.