Economy may force Barack Obama to cut back on green pledge | World news | The Guardian

"We have to figure out what is achievable ... within one year, given our economic realities," Kerry said. "The bottom line is we are not going to be in the position we were two years ago in the short term to do as much technology transfer or economic assistance in terms of transitional issues that might have led other countries to participate."

The caution came amid rising expectations on the eve of the two-week UN meeting, which begins on Monday, about the prospects of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto protocol late next year. Kerry said there would be little negotiation on a treaty at the meeting but it would focus on setting out a timetable leading up to next year's international climate change summit at the Copenhagen meeting. "This is not a negotiation session," he said. "This is a negotiation to set up a glide path going into Copenhagen."

But to "focus on setting out a timetable", do you really need 9,000 people for two weeks?

WARSAW, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Some 9,000 people confirmed their participation in the 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 4th meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, Alexander Saier, a UN official, said here Friday.

The conference will be held in Poznan of Poland on December 1 to 12, 2008, according to Polish news agency PAP.

Why couldn't that be done over the Internet?