Development of alternative energy should create more than 20 million jobs around the world in coming decades as governments adopt policies to address the depletion of resources, according to a UN report released on Wednesday.

Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago on Thursday unveiled perhaps the most aggressive plan of any major American city to reduce heat-trapping gases.

The prospect of US regulation of climate-warming carbon dioxide has sparked a pre-emptive outcry from the Chamber of Commerce, which warned of bureaucratic gridlock if proposed limits are put in place.

In a report to be released on Tuesday, the pro-business organization projected such regulation would affect more than 1 million US businesses and create such a regulatory backlog that it could stall economic development.

Despite the economic downturn and rising prices, global energy demand continues to rise; so do carbon emissions.

The world should not wait until next year to cobble together a new climate change pact, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday.

Ban, addressing diplomats and officials at a ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the UN climate panel, said countries negotiating a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol should aim for a meaningful breakthrough in Poznan, Poland, in December.
Delaying major advances until the end of 2009, when a Copenhagen summit will aim to finalise an accord to tackle rising global temperatures, may be ill-advised, Ban told the event in Geneva.

Subir Roy / New Delhi August 20, 2008, 5:50 IST

By Alister Doyle

OSLO,Aug. 17: An economic slowdown is sapping enthusiasm for a costly drive to fight climate change but persistently high oil prices are a lifeline for a "green revolution" of renewable energy technology, experts say.

UN talks on a new climate treaty to be agreed in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 resume in Ghana from August 21 to 27