Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. deputy special envoy for climate change, said the Obama administration will bring a “much more detailed set of policies” to the next round of negotiations beginning June 1.

He said the plan would require all countries, including developing nations like China and India, to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

He also said it will focus on long-range goals for greenhouse gas emissions–as distant as 2050. This is undoubtedly because the Obama administration’s midterm goals do not match those being called for by the international community.

Obama wants the U.S. to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and reduce levels progressively to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. The European Union has proposed reductions of 25% to 35% compared with 1990 levels by 2020.

An alliance of small island states, backed by a dozen African and Latin American nations, urged developed nations to reduce emissions by at least 45% below 1990 levels by the year 2020.

Pershing said that for the U.S. “Those numbers will be determined by Congress,” which is currently debating climate change and energy legislation.

Delegates reportedly also discussed whether or not a new climate treaty should resemble the Kyoto Protocol and whether it should include a cap-and-trade framework modeled on the European Union’s trading system.

Annie Petsonk, international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, told the New York Times that while this approach seemed likely, one difficult question remains: Which countries will be required to cap emissions?

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