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.