The good news: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she intends to attend the Copenhagen climate talks. The bad news: 21 other world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, have said they don't expect the talks to produce a binding treaty.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Monday that she would be attending the United Nations Climate Conference which starts in Copenhagen in early December. For a conference that has experienced plenty of setbacks, this is definitely an added bonus.

The more likely it looks that the Copenhagen conference will not achieve any sort of binding agreement, the more negotiations get bogged down, the fewer important international leaders plan to attend. So the fact that the German chancellor has announced firm intentions to go is a good sign.

She will join 40 other world leaders there, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown - although whether American President Barack Obama will attend is as yet unclear.