"Ailing UN Climate Talks Jolted by Record Surge in Greenhouse Gases"

"The record leap in global greenhouse gas emissions last year has thrown the spotlight on the world's only concerted attempt to stem the tide of global warming -- the United Nations climate negotiations.

Next week, governments will convene in Bonn, Germany, for the latest round of more than 20 years of tortuous talks, aimed at forging a binding international agreement on climate change which so far has eluded them.

Little is expected of the meeting, a staging post on the road to a bigger conference in Durban, South Africa, in December. But the data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) should shock even the most jaded of negotiators.

'I hope these estimates provide a wake-up call to governments,' said Lord Stern, a London School of Economics professor and author of the landmark review on the economics of climate change. 'Progress in international discussions since the modest successes [at the last UN meeting] in Cancún last December has been slow.'"

Fiona Harvey reports for the Guardian May 29, 2011.

SEE ALSO:

"Worst Ever Carbon Emissions Leave Climate on  the Brink" (Guardian)

"CO2 Emissions Highest Ever In 2010: IEA" (AFP)

"Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Jump to Record Levels" (ENS)

"World’s Cities Taking Steps on Climate Change as Governments Bicker at UN" (Bloomberg)

"President-Designate for Durban Climate Talks Named" (ICTSD)

"South Africa Hosts Ministerial Meeting To Devise Strategies For COP 17" (Bernama)

"World Must Face 'Inconvenient Truth' of Emissions Rise, Says Un Climate Chief" (Guardian)

"Dangerous Climate Change 'almost Impossible' To Stop After Huge Rise in Greenhouse Gases" (Daily Mirror)