MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Annan urges action on global warming

The UN chief lamented “a frightening lack of leadership” in fashioning next steps in reducing global emissions.

"I would want leaders around the world to really show courage and to know that if they do, their people and the voters will be with them," he told reporters.

Washington rejected Annan's pleas to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and dismissed his charge that there was a "frightening lack of leadership" in combating global warming.

"We think that the United States has been leading in terms of its ground-breaking initiatives," Paula Dobriansky, Under-Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, told a news conference during November 6-17 UN climate talks.

Annan had urged rich countries at the 189-nation talks in Nairobi to be more "courageous" in cutting greenhouse gases and urged Washington to reconsider opposition to the UN's Kyoto Protocol that binds 35 nations to cut emissions by 2012.

Dobriansky said the US was sticking to policies focused on braking ? rather than cutting ? the rise of emissions while investing heavily in green technologies such as hydrogen or new technologies for cleaner burning of coal. "We seek to slow, reverse and really curb emissions," she said.

The United States is the world's number one source of heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars ahead of China, Russia and India.

Annan said Kyoto was a first step to fight global warming. "And as we consider how to go further still, there remains a frightening lack of leadership." He said the criticism was not aimed at any single country.

Big developing nations, such as China and India, had to start braking their own surging emissions from power plants, factories and cars, Annan said. Kyoto excludes developing nations from targets for 2012.

The annual UN climate conference brings together diplomats and scientists from around the world to discuss global warming and what to do about it.