The official refused to be drawn on specific numbers but the announcement was expected to be in line with legislation being debated in the US Senate that envisages a reduction of up to 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

He indicated that President Barack Obama would announce the target in the next few days along with a decision on whether he will fly to the Danish capital to give added impetus to efforts to seek a global treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

Sixty-five leaders, including from Germany, France and Brazil, have already committed to participating at the December 7-18 meeting.

As the leader of one of the world's two biggest polluters, Obama is under considerable pressure to attend the conference and show flexibility on new emission targets.

"Countries will need to put on the table what they are willing to do on emissions," the senior Obama administration official told journalists.

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer indicated Monday, ahead of a meeting with EU environment ministers in Brussels, that a US emissions target was the crucial factor in the negotiations.

"The key issue here at the moment is the United States," he said. "My sense is Obama will be in a position to come to Copenhagen with a target and a financial contribution."

Whatever Obama announces before Copenhagen must be realistic in terms of what can be achieved legislatively.

The US Senate last week delayed legislation on climate change until early 2010, confirming a bill would not be adopted in time for Copenhagen.

A US House of Representatives bill, passed in June, calls for cutting US greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and by 83 percent by 2050. The Senate's slightly more ambitious bill calls for a 20-percent cut by 2020.

"We're cognizant of what has passed the House, we're in close touch with what is being worked on in the Senate and we'll try and craft a submission that reflects where we think we can come out," the administration official said.

"We expect that a decision will be made in the coming days."

In Europe, green groups said a US emissions target would be a step forward. The two-year UN haggle leading up to the Copenhagen conference has been hamstrung by what the world's No. 2 polluter and wealthiest country will propose.

But, they said, the big question was how far the United States planned to trim its carbon output and over what timeframe -- and whether this met scientific criteria for tackling global warming.

"Getting clarity from the US on what their commitment is going to be is going to be crucially important," WWF's Kim Carstensen told AFP.

De Boer, the UN climate chief, has already ruled out the possibility that a comprehensive treaty can be reached in Copenhagen.

The lesser deal he anticipates is likely to include "a list of rich country targets (and) clarity on what major developing countries like India and China are willing to do."

The EU has already vowed to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, raising the target to 30 percent in the event of an international agreement on the issue.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he accepted the limitations of what could be achieved in Copenhagen and blamed years of inaction under Obama's predecessor George W. Bush.

"I don't think any of us were under the illusion that, again, having been off the world stage for so long... all these issues might be neatly wrapped up by December of this year."

Obama is already scheduled to be close to Copenhagen on December 10, receiving his Nobel Peace Prize in nearby Oslo.

The senior administration official said the president would go to the climate conference if "negotiations have proceeded sufficiently that going to Copenhagen would give a final impetus, a push, to the process.

"We are in close touch with the Danes as to how they see those two weeks proceeding and how an appearance by the president might be helpful to the negotiations," he said.

The United States was the world's biggest carbon emitter until it was overtaken by China in 2006, according to the Global Carbon Project, a consortium of leading climate scientists.

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