COPENHAGEN - Denmark said on Monday it was consulting governments on several proposals for a U.N. climate deal in Copenhagen and could not put forward a compromise text until next month's meeting.

India on Monday criticized a draft Danish proposal for the December 7-18 summit as a dead end. The draft, seen by Reuters, included a goal of halving world emissions by 2050 from 1990 levels.

The Danish government consults with various countries both bilaterally and multilaterally and different options are being discussed and tested, Danish Minister Connie Hedegaard, who will preside at the meeting, told Reuters in an e-mail.

Consultations in this final phase ... are being held on a daily basis, but the negotiations do not start until next week, she said. Denmark has said a full new U.N. treaty is out of reach and instead wants a binding political deal next month.

Hedegaard said she would only be able to table a possible compromise text at the meeting, as incoming president of the U.N. talks. Until then, consultations are based on a variety of draft text proposals, she wrote.

(Reporting by David Fogarty, writing by Alister Doyle; editing by Janet Lawrence)

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