Environmental Glance
The world has less than five years to get carbon emissions under control or runaway climate change will become inevitable, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has warned.
Scientists generally agree that the world could keep temperature rises below a dangerous level of two degrees C (3.6 degrees F) if greenhouse gas emissions are halved by 2050. However a new report from the WWF found this will require a "green industrial revolution" by 2014, with heavy investment in moving from fossil fuels to 'low carbon alternatives' like wind, solar, nuclear and clean coal.
The 2007 draft suppressed until now calls for regulation of greenhouse gases, citing global warming as a serious risk to the U.S. A finding by the Obama administration is nearly identical.
Scientists have warned of an alarming increase in the extinction of animal species, because of threats to biodiversity and ecosystems.
The UN's climate chief has warned that time is running out for negotiators to agree on crucial targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The US threatened to derail a deal on global climate change today in a public showdown with China by expressing deep opposition to the existing Kyoto protocol. The US team also urged other rich countries to join it in setting up a new legal agreement which would, unlike Kyoto, force all countries to reduce emissions.
In a dramatic acceleration of forecasts for global warming, UK scientists say the global average temperature could rise by 4C (7.2F) as early as 2060.
Conservative commentators and Congressional Republicans said he had been muzzled because he did not toe the liberal line.
