This article was contributed by Michael Oppenheimer, Miibank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, Princeton University. On both sides of the Atlantic, hints of optimism are beginning to seep into the prevailing pessimistic view of prospects for comprehensive action to stem greenhouse gas emissions. However, this revived sense of possibilities for progress is not due to any feeling that the Bush administration's negative attitude has shifted. If anything, the US delegation's obstructionist tactics at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (the parent agreement of the Kyoto Protocol) in December may have finally convinced some ever-hopeful European leaders that the official US position remains inflexible.
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