New climate deal

Guardian reported Britain is to open the door for other nations to abandon setting compulsory targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions: the principle at the heart of the Kyoto agreement to tackle climate change. Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, has told The Observer she is prepared to accept voluntary targets - a move hinted at this autumn by Tony Blair.

Voluntary targets will not do any good. You need mandatory targets, but you cannot exclude China and India. They must sign on and it must be verifyable before any of the western nations join in.

The news caused consternation among green campaigners last night. 'Voluntary targets are not worth the paper they are written on,' said Stephen Tindale, head of Greenpeace UK. 'Without mandatory targets [the Kyoto Protocol] is effectively dead.'

It is dead anyway. No western nation is going to destroy their economy when China and India are not included, because they will add more emissions than everyone else put together cuts back.