Those who believe that a satisfactory deal in Copenhagen is at best unlikely, have gained weight for their argument after the European Commission published a report last week indicating the EU would only be prepared to contribute $2-15 billion annually to financing developing countries in their climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. This represents a substantial reduction to the numbers being mentioned only the week before by the EU, when it had suggested it would be prepared to set aside $13-24 billion each year for such measures.