By Associated Press Hoping to help break a political deadlock on global warming, a U.N.-sponsored gathering of scientists is working on the most comprehensive report yet on climate change blamed on air pollution. The conference, which ends Saturday, is aimed at adding urgency to talks on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which one participant said could raise global temperatures much more than previously forecast. The last round of climate talks ended in November in the Netherlands without agreement on how to carry out the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. That committed governments to cut output of carbon dioxide and other gases suspected of raising global temperatures to 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2010. A key point of conflict is a U.S.-led attempt to cushion the blow by subtracting carbon dioxide absorbed by forests and farmland from countries' reduction quotas.
Some European governments oppose such credits.
The United States is the biggest producer of greenhouse gases, with 25 percent of all emissions. Among other key opponents of drastic cuts are oil companies and major coal producers such as Australia. The next round of negotiations is to take place in May in Bonn, Germany. The change of government in Washington could complicate the talks. President-elect George W. Bush, a former oil executive, has expressed reluctance about U.S. commitments to curbing global warming.