Provincial and territorial leaders will have little influence on Canada's final contribution to the United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen, says federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice.

Prentice met behind closed doors Monday with territorial and provincial premiers who have come to Copenhagen this week for the meeting of world leaders, who are negotiating a new treaty on greenhouse gas emissions to replace the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol expires in 2012.

Prentice said all provinces and territories were consulted in preparation for the summit, but it's the federal government's responsibility to negotiate the terms and conditions of Canada's involvement in an international climate-change treaty.

"We do not necessarily agree on all issues all of the time, but that's the nature of a federation," Prentice said.

"We are here speaking with one voice as a Canadian government, relative to the kinds of obligations that we have put on the table."

'We need stronger targets': Roland

Several Canadian jurisdictions, including the northern territories, do not agree with the Conservative government's proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by just three per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland says stiffer controls on greenhouse gas emissions are needed to address climate change, the effects of which are already being felt in Canada's North. (Patricia Bell/CBC)Northern leaders like N.W.T. Premier Floyd Roland said the targets don't go far enough to slow global warming, which has already been affecting Canada's Arctic.

"We feel that we need stronger targets set," Roland said Tuesday. "Ultimately, it is a decision that the federal government's making, but we can — as territories and as provinces — do even more."

The territories and provinces will be responsible for implementing any agreements discussed in Copenhagen, Roland said, and can go much further in cutting emissions than what is being negotiated this week.

But Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak said the territories will need help if they want to make those cuts.

"Of course, we need infrastructure money," she said. "We are using antiquated generators, so we have a lot to do."

Yukon deputy premier Elaine Taylor said she wants the federal government to see eye to eye with the provinces and territories.

"We're doing our part here at home, but at the end of the day, we need to have that collaboration with our own federal government," she said.