Two-track approach adopted on global warming

More than 150 nations agreed today to launch formal talks on mandatory post-2012 reductions in greenhouse gases – talks that will exclude an unwilling US.

For its part, the administration of US President George W. Bush, which rejects the emissions cutbacks of the current Kyoto Protocol, accepted only a watered-down proposal at talks in Montreal to enter an exploratory global “dialogue” on future steps to combat climate change.

That proposal specifically rules out “negotiations leading to new commitments”.

The parallel tracks represented a mixed result for the pivotal two-week conference, doing little to close the climate gap between Washington on one side, and Europe, Japan and other supporters of the Kyoto Protocol on the other.

“These countries are willing to take the leadership,” Swiss delegate Bruno Oberle said of the Kyoto nations. ”But they are not able to solve the problem. We need the support of the US – but also of the big emerging countries,” a reference to China and other poorer industrialising nations not obligated under Kyoto.

But the Canadian conference president, Environment Minister Stephane Dion, said the decisions taken here amounted to “a map for the future, the Montreal Action Plan, the MAP".