Washington (Platts)--16Nov2009/1214 pm EST/1714 GMT

While plans to reach a binding international agreement in 2009 on cutting carbon dioxide emissions have failed, the heads of six US Senate committees with jurisdiction over a major climate change bill will meet Monday to chart a way forward on the issue for their chamber.

Senator John Kerry had said in October that the purpose of the meeting would be to set a schedule and strategy for the bill, which will combine energy provisions with a cap-and-trade mandate aimed at reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The senators will meet in the office of Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat-Nevada.

The committees which will have a hand in drafting the bill include Energy and Natural Resources, Environment and Public Works, Foreign Relations, Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Finance and Agriculture.

Kerry, the Foreign Relations chairman who has spearheaded the Senate's effort to pass a climate change bill (S. 1733), said last week that committees will play a key role in setting the schedule for the bill.

The meeting comes after Saturday's announcement by international leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore that the summit next month in Copenhagen will not yield a binding treaty on climate as was once hoped.

US President Barack Obama was in Singapore for the forum as part of an eight-day tour.

The climate summit, which will take place from December 7-18, will now be intended to lay the foundation for a future treaty, leaders said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited with US Senate leaders on climate last week, calling for an agreement that would be politically, if not legally binding. He reiterated his hope Monday.

"Next month in Copenhagen, we need a comprehensive agreement that will provide a firm foundation for a legally binding treaty on climate change," the secretary said in a statement. "Now more than ever, we need the leadership of heads of state and government to resolve the key political issues at the heart of a global deal."

Obama is currently in China, where he is meeting with President Hu Jintao about several issues, including climate change and energy. The US and China each represent about 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, but the Chinese and other developing countries have said they would not be willing to make immediate cuts.

That responsibility, they have argued, lies with large developed countries like the US which represent a large percentage of historical emissions and also have larger emissions per capita.

--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com

--Alexander Duncan, alexander_duncan@platts.com