Europeans split over goals to cut emissions - International Herald Tribune

But David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, accused countries of trying to wriggle out of commitments they had made just last year. "There is no setback," Miliband said, emphasizing that he expected an agreement on the current timetable.

"A number of countries have shown buyer's remorse for the agreement in 2007," he said. "There is no going back. No going back on determination to have agreement by the end of the year."

The scale of the backlash against the proposals has caused concern including in Denmark which will host crucial climate change talks next year. "There is not reason to hide the fact that we face some very difficult negotiations up to December," Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark said.

Viet Nam to pay an enormous amount for worthless forecasts?

HCM CITY — A national programme to respond to climate change will require VND2 trillion (US$121.2 million) to provide climate change scenarios from 2009-15.

This was revealed at a workshop on climate change held on Tuesday by Nguyen Van Thang, director of the Research Centre for Meteorology and Climatology under the Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment.

He said the draft National Target Programme in Responding to Climate Change (NTP RCC) would use the funds to present about 36 detailed scenarios on climate change as drawn up by international scientists.

Accordingly, the NTP RCC will estimate the rise in sea levels, the temperature and the impact of climate change to build action plans.

Thang said the VND2 trillion budget does not include measures to cope with climate change related problems.