British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott says he believes a formula for a treaty on global warming has been found which would be agreeable to both developed and developing countries.

Mr Prescott said the formula, first proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October, could give a "window of credibility" to allow agreement.

British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott

But environmentalists, who want a single target for all countries, have warned that any deal could be so full of holes it would "look like a Swiss cheese". Protesters have been in action outside the UN conference in Kyoto.

Matthew Spencer of Greenpeace UK said: "We are over halfway through the most important meeting we have ever had on climate protection and still we have no unified target on the table.

"One of our biggest fears is that there is a chance that loopholes will be tied into the agreement, making it like a Swiss cheese."

US Vice President Al Gore is due to arrive in Kyoto on Monday to meet with other government representatives, including Mr Prescott.

Mr Prescott told BBC television's Breakfast with Frost that a formula had been found which he thought may satisfy both parties. Developing countries, he said, "wanted to see developed countries are signing up seriously to cut C02 gases".

Developed countries, on the other hand, wanted to know that the developing countries were working to implement cuts. It was, however, important to make sure that no countries were using the treaty or the time it would take to ratify around the world, as a loophole to avoid reductions.

Tests on a solar car show one way forward

He said he thought there was the political will for agreement now.

"If we don't get an agreement, then quite frankly it will be quite catastrophic, but I'm not contemplating that at the moment," he said.

"There is still a considerable way to go but I think no one wants to blamed for the breakdown of this conference because public opinion is such that they want to see an agreement on the environment."

Meanwhile the European Union has rejected a new proposal that would impose different reduction targets on the United States, Europe and Japan.

The EU's chief environment official, Ritt Bjerregaard, said it would be economic folly to give the United States a business advantage by accepting bigger cuts in Europe but the EU has not ruled out different targets for other countries.

One possibility being considered is the concept of emissions allowances which are tradable, allowing big producers to buy other countries' allowances of unused emissions, thereby increasing their own costs.

Internet role
The conference organisers have announced that the closing ceremonies will go out live on the Web in what they say is the biggest Internet video broadcast ever.

The speeches will be netcast in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.
 
John Prescott speaks to Sir David Frost from Kyoto (Dur 1'00")

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