Climate-change challenge continues

There was euphoria amongst many delegates to last month's UN climate change conference in Montreal as countries struck a deal at the twelfth hour, but many researchers are concerned that a major study on the degree to which greenhouse gases need to be reduced to stabilise climate is still pressing. " Without an agreement on what level of climate change is 'dangerous' world leaders risk losing sight of the urgency needed to tackle this global threat, " warned Martin Rees, president of Britain's Royal Society on the eve of the close of the conference. And the US's refusal to join in the mainstream talks has been an added and major frustration. The Montreal meeting was the first of the annual climate conferences since the Kyoto protocol took effect last February, mandating specific cutbacks in emissions of carbon dioxide and five other gases by 2012 in 35 industrialised countries. The US delegates walked out of the conference over the wording of a draft statement calling for international cooperation on the issue, but they signed a revised version after making only minor changes. The move came as 157 other countries agreed separately to extend the Kyoto international agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental campaigners hailed the Kyoto breakthrough as a 'historic step forwards'. Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: " The rest of the world is right to push ahead and leave the obstructive US behind. " The conference was the first in the series to be held in North America, and US journalists flooded in, many feeling that they had not previously realised the international significance of the issue. The US delegation submitted its revised version of the statement text early on the last day. Agreement was reached last month amongst many countries to curb further the emission of greenhouse gases, but the US remains on the sidelines, and many scientists urge the need for a major study to determine just how much must be done to stabilize the climate. Smokescreen: The US is losing out from its failure to pursue new fuel-efficient technologies , says former president Bill Clinton.