Plans to delay a legally binding agreement on tackling climate change until next year have been heavily criticised by environmental campaigners.

The US has supported proposals put forward by Denmark, which is due to host the climate summit next month in Copenhagen, for a political agreement on greenhouse gas emissions and a deadline for agreeing a legally-binding one in the future.

Greenpeace said any delay would hit vulnerable countries hardest and called on EU leaders to continue to push for an agreement at Copenhagen climate summit next month.

'When Obama started downplaying the Copenhagen outcomes, did he check with the world’s most vulnerable countries as to whether their survival was now negotiable,' asked Greenpeace International Climate Policy Advisor, Kaisa Kosonen.

'That’s certainly not the message we have heard – climate change impacts are already affecting millions across the developing world and they need action now. This is not about time but rather the absence of political will from industrialised countries, which are refusing to take their fair share of the global efforts, and instead continue to postpone important decisions into eternity.

'EU leaders, including Merkel, Sarkozy and Brown, must immediately step in and publicly oppose this back down from a legally binding climate agreement in Copenhagen,' said Kosonen.

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