WASHINGTON, Dec. 11— The White House, beginning the arduous task of selling an accord to reduce emissions of climate-altering gases, said today that it would not submit the proposed treaty for Senate ratification until developing countries agree to participate in the global environmental effort.
But developing countries at the global climate-change conference that just ended in Kyoto, Japan, said they would not act until they see the rich countries succeed in cutting their own emissions. And many members of the Senate are already saying it has no chance of passage. The accord is dependent on Senate approval.
At the insistence of China and other developing countries, the Kyoto conference imposed no requirements on newly industrialized countries and created only limited mechanisms for their inclusion in global efforts to curb so-called greenhouse gases.
The developing countries delayed a compromise that would have allowed the United States and other major polluters to buy or trade emission credits from countries whose emissions are within acceptable levels, and therefore avoid making significant cuts in emissions in a compressed time period.
With Senators denouncing the accord as not tough enough on developing countries, the stage was set for a yearlong political fight with the Clinton Administration, which has embraced the outlines of the deal.
The developing countries' objections provide Mr. Clinton with additional time to muster his arguments in favor of the treaty and an opportunity to portray himself as a defender of the United States' interests. For the next year -- an election year -- he is in the risk-free position of being able to make a strong pro-environmental political pitch while not having to face a damaging vote in the Senate.
President Clinton defended the agreement as ''environmentally strong and economically sound,'' even as Administration officials were admitting that its flaws made it unacceptable to the Senate.
Mr. Clinton is likely to either win credit for tackling a difficult problem or pay a huge political cost for misjudging the public's appetite for sacrifice, even if doled out in small portions over many years.
The outcome of the debate and the political impact on Mr. Clinton and Vice President Gore are yet to be seen. But it is certain that Congress and the American people will be subjected to millions of dollars worth of lobbying and advertising in the next months by powerful coalitions that support and oppose the proposed treaty. Already, both sides are making sweeping claims about the dangers of global warming and the high cost of proposed solutions. Among the President's most difficult jobs will be to help the public decipher those assertions and bring pressure on Congress to take action on a matter over which there is still wide disagreement.
''The game is afoot,'' a senior White House aide said today.
In an appearance at a Coast Guard station in Miami, the President acknowledged that he faced the difficult political and diplomatic job of persuading the American people and leaders of developing countries that the threat of global warming is real and requires immediate action.
''There's still a lot of challenges ahead,'' Mr. Clinton said.
Even if the countries that agreed to the targets set in Kyoto begin taking steps to reduce so-called greenhouse gases that mainstream scientists believe are warming the earth's atmosphere, concentrations of these emissions will continue to rise for many years. Mr. Clinton and others say that a potential catastrophe in the next century will be averted only by concerted global action beginning now to cut emissions.
Officials in Washington said the Administration would not put the treaty before the Senate before 1999 at the earliest, after a meeting in Buenos Aires late next year aimed at persuading developing countries to accept the Kyoto agreement's limitations on emissions of greenhouse gases. That timetable would also postpone some of the ratification debate beyond the 1998 Congressional midterm elections. President Clinton has until March 1999 to decide whether to sign the proposed agreement.
''As we have said from the very beginning, we will not submit this for ratification until there's meaningful participation by key developing nations,'' Vice President Gore said at a Washington news conference today. Administration officials did not define ''meaningful participation,'' saying that it was a matter for months of bilateral and multilateral discussions.
Mr. Gore added that the Administration had ruled out tax increases to meet the obligations of the treaty. And he said that the Administration would soon propose a $5 billion package of tax incentives and research grants to move the country onto a more energy-efficient path.
One senior White House official, who insisted on anonymity, said it was possible that the treaty would not be ready for submission to the Senate during the remainder of Mr. Clinton's term in office.
Despite the Administration's go-slow approach, domestic opponents of the accord continued to rail against its terms, saying that it meant colder homes, a shrinking economy and higher gasoline prices.
The House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, said the United States ''surrendered'' to pressure in Kyoto and called the proposed treaty ''an outrage.'' He said the accord would cripple the American economy.
