Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will decide within a few days whether he will fly to Copenhagen next month for the United Nation’s talks on curbing climate change, administration officials said today.

The U.S., the second-largest greenhouse-gas producer after China, also said it will propose in Copenhagen a numerical goal for cutting emissions by 2020 and a dollar figure for short-term financial help for poor nations battling the effects of climate change, said the officials, who asked not to be identified. The conference is Dec. 7 through Dec. 18.

At least 65 world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown plan to make an appearance, according to Michael Helbo, a spokesman for Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen. Almost 200 nations are set to debate terms for a new accord to cut greenhouse-gas pollution, which many scientists blame for global warming.

“I think it’s likely he will go,” said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The White House is probably getting enough assurances from countries such as China and India about willingness to push for agreement in Copenhagen that the administration is “feeling more comfortable” about the president’s attendance, said Meyer.

Negotiators have tried for almost two years to devise new emissions-reduction targets for the 37 developed nations bound by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol treaty goals that expire in 2012. Leaders are also trying to agree on standards for the U.S., which never ratified Kyoto, and for developing nations such as China and India, which had no Kyoto commitments.

Proposals in Congress

The U.S. will propose in Copenhagen emissions-reduction targets that align with proposals in Congress, an administration official said. A House of Representatives climate bill calls for a 17 percent reduction in U.S. greenhouse-gas pollution, while a 20 percent cut is outlined in a Senate plan by Democratic Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California.

The U.S. also plans to outline how much it is willing to spend to help poor countries adapt in the short term to climate change, an official said today. Officials declined to specify a dollar range that the U.S. might commit to in Copenhagen and didn’t discuss long-term financing.

“It’s good news that the administration has made a decision to put numbers on the table,” Meyer said. “That’s essential.”

Seeking ‘Meaningful’ Agreement

Rasmussen has invited heads of state to be in Copenhagen the last two days of the meeting. Obama and other leaders at last week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore said that a binding accord for reducing greenhouse gases is unlikely to happen at the December meeting in Denmark.

Instead, they are seeking a “meaningful” political agreement as a framework for a final accord to replace Kyoto.

The U.S. Senate is unlikely to pass climate legislation before the Copenhagen meeting, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said last week that “we’re going to try to do that sometime in the spring.” Without a bill from the Senate, which must ratify treaties, Obama’s negotiators are left without firm guidelines to center their discussions.

The House of Representatives passed a bill in June. The Senate is working to complete a bipartisan blueprint of a measure before the Copenhagen meeting, Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, said earlier this month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 23, 2009 17:21 EST