Key UN talks to negotiate a new global climate treaty have ended in Bonn without any real progress on new commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The ten-day meeting in Bonn of the UN climate change convention (UNFCCC) involved 170 countries. It is the second of eight set down over 2008-09 to thrash out a new accord to follow on from the Kyoto Protocol when it runs out in 2012.

On the crucial question of commitments by developed nations to new emission targets, there has been no significant movement since the Bali roadmap was laid down in December last year. An EU commission environment official described the UN talks as a “roadmap to nowhere”.

The strong theme emerging from the Bonn meeting was criticism by the developing country delegates that rich nations were not trying hard enough to reach agreement on emissions cuts, nor to increase the flow of clean technology to poor countries.

"While the scientific evidence is universally recognised, we are yet to see the urgency in the response of the parties," a spokesperson for the Group of 77 developing countries, including China, said.

The chief of the UNFCCC secretariat, Yvo de Boer, said negotiators must bite the bullet and table concrete proposals for emissions targets at the next meeting, scheduled for August. De Boer said that on other matters there was progress, such as financing mechanisms and climate change adaptation.

At Bali, developed nations agreed to consider cutting emissions by 25-40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. The EU supports that goal but there is stiff opposition among other rich nations, like the US, Canada, Japan and Australia.

Many observers believe there is little chance of progress on the treaty until President Bush leaves office in the US in January and a new more climate-friendly administration is in power.

Others say there is little chance of the 25-40 target being agreed at all and predict a push by some nations to have the 1990 base year for emissions reductions re-set is gaining momentum. Reuters reports that a more recent baseline year might be what’s need to bring the likes of the US, Canada and Japan on board.

The influential Pew Center on Global Climate change says wiping the slate clean with a fresh start on emissions reductions might be the only way to secure a new  treaty.

Japan has argued that under the 1990 comparison it gets no reward for energy efficiency gains instigated in the 1970s and 80s. The US and Canada, whose emissions have skyrocketed since 1990, say it unfairly penalises them while rewarding Russia and former Soviet countries whose emissions have dropped without effort.

Reuters, AFP, EurActiv, Bloomberg 12-16/6/08