Blair sets deadline

In a speech at King's College London, Prime minister Tony Blair yesterday set an international deadline of one year to broker a new global agreement on how to tackle climate change.

Mr. Blair's statement came after the release of a report on the progress since last summer's G8 summit in Scotland, which showed that only little effective change has taken place.

The prime Minister stressed that it was important and necessary to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the short term, and urged other G8 nations as well emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil to avoid infighting and disagreement when working on a new deal to replace the Kyoto protocol, which runs out in 2012.

Mr. Blair said: "We need to begin to agree a framework that the major players - US, China, India and Europe can buy into and has at its heart a goal to stabilise temperature and greenhouse gas concentrations. But it can't take the 5 years it took to agree Kyoto."