In Poland, climate is on world leader’s minds

But will the economic slowdown hamper environmental progress? In 2012, the Kyoto Protocol Climate Treaty will expire. Will a new international climate agreement be ready to fill the warming void? World politicians hope so. They gather this week in Poznan, Poland, to lay the groundwork for a post-Kyoto treaty. Time is of the essence — they’d like to have the new treaty in place by next December. The Poznan agenda: saving forests, economic recession, and carbon emissions.

“There are a lot of lame ducks on the ground here, we have not just the American delegation but the Europeans are also looking around and saying well, we were supposed to be the leaders on climate change but we’re now having problems!” –Matt McGrath on hammering out a new climate treaty