(ANSA) - Brussels, December 7 - Italy wants a binding deal from the United Nations climate change summit, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Monday. Speaking as the conference opened in Copenhagen, Frattini said Rome was keen to reach an agreement but warned that any commitments must bind all parties. ''We cannot accept an agreement that is binding for some and optional for others,'' he said. ''We are all in the same boat here. It's obvious that we must ensure an agreement that is ambitious, binding and universal''.

The minister also expressed his support for a European Union proposal unveiled last week, which would impose more stringent targets on member states. Current targets require EU countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 20% on 1990 levels by 2020.

But the EU has promised to up this to 30% if other industrialized states agree to similarly tough action over coming days. ''Italy is favourable,'' said Frattini, ''but the target will only rise to 30% if there is a comprehensive agreement, otherwise not''.

Participants at the summit, which runs until December 18, have been tasked with drafting an agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol when it expires in 2012.

But divisions between industrialized and emerging states mean a binding international treaty on emissions caps is unlikely.

Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo is one of many to recommend the summit should instead be viewed as the first stage in an ongoing process.

Three of the key emerging states, India, China and South Africa, have unilaterally agreed to some carbon reductions. On Monday, South Africa said it had committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 34% by 2020, while India joined China last week in agreeing to reduce its ''carbon intensity'', the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of GDP by the same date.

Beijing has said it will aim for a 40-45% reduction compared with 2005, while India has announced a 20-25% target. But the emerging bloc insists that emissions reductions are dependant on financial aid from rich countries, many of which have promised to help but not yet given any accurate figures. These uncertainties are likely to be reflected in any agreement to emerge from the two-week summit, which is expected to include a large number of non-binding promises to reduce emissions subject to funding from the industrialized world. It will probably also contain a promise, as agreed by Group of Eight leaders at an Italian summit this summer, to restrict global temperature rises to no more than two degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.

This is thought to be the point at which climate change becomes irreversible. However, an alliance of small island states at the summit say this would already be too late for them and are calling for a 1.5-degree limit. Under a bill awaiting congressional approval, the US will aim to reduce emissions to 17% below 2005 levels, or 4% below 1990 levels, by 2020.

However, reports on Monday suggested the US Environmental Protection Agency was about to declare that greenhouse gases pose a risk to human health, giving it the right to regulate emissions even if Congress fails to approve the pending bill. Italy is bound by EU targets, which demand a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 on 1990 level, which could rise to 30% depending on the outcome of the summit. The EU also requires member states to meet 20% of their energy needs from renewable sources by that date.

A poll released in Italy last week suggested the percentage of Italians concerned about climate change had fallen over the last two years.

The research by social research non-profit group Observa found just 72% of Italians were convinced of global warming compared to 90% during a similar survey in 2007.