Barroso said the EU had made an 'important breakthrough' in agreeing the deal [AFP]

The EU on Friday agreed poorer nations would need $148bn per year by 2020 to tackle climate change and that it would pay $32bn to $74bn of that amount annually, conditional on other nations' actions.

No fixed amounts for individual EU nations were announced at the meeting in Brussels and the initial funding will be on a voluntary basis.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said the EU had made an "important breakthrough" in agreeing the deal.

European rift

Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, said Europeans "now have a very strong negotiating position" to seek tight greenhouse gas emission cuts at the talks in the Danish capital later this year.

Reinfeldt said EU nations would not be required to contribute to funding before 2013, bowing to demands by poorer EU member states.

Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency, drew up revised proposals after talks broke down on Thursday, largely because of the rift between nine countries from eastern Europe and the richer member states over how the burden should be shared.

Funding is central to the chances of success in Copenhagen because developing countries say they will not sign up to tackling climate change without enough funds from rich nations.

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