Europe’s climate commissioner has said world talks must provide a “substantial answer” to global warming in two years to remain relevant, after another United Nations conference gave only modest results.

The UN’s top climate change official Yvo De Boer today announced he was resigning after nearly four years, a period when governments struggled without success to agree on a new global warming deal.

POOR countries ended a boycott of UN climate talks yesterday after getting assurances that rich nations were not conspiring to soften their commitments to cutting greenhouse gases, European officials said.