Time is running out for climate change talks, with another meeting of world governments ending yesterday, this time in Bonn, with little progress towards a new agreement on greenhouse gases.

Officials are now pinning their hopes on the summit of the Group of Eight industrialised nations next month, where the subject will be discussed by world leaders. They may feel more freedom to make compromises than their environment and finance ministers, who failed to do so at the United Nations conference in Bonn.