The dispute over global warming between the European Union and the United States worsened yesterday at an international conference in The Hague, with neither side appearing ready for a compromise.
"So far, I haven't seen anyone move their position by one centimetre," said Mr Raul Estrada, Argentina's special representative for the environment.
He chaired the UN meeting in Kyoto three years ago which laid out the basis for emission cuts. This is supposed to be finalised at the two-week climate conference in The Hague.
But while scientists warn of significant climate changes in the years ahead, with rising sea levels threatening to submerge coastlines and entire islands, politicians bicker over who should pay to cut the fuel emissions which are believed to be the cause of global warming.
The European Union wants wealthy states to take a lead and implement cuts in greenhouse gases through tough domestic policies.
The United States has refused to ratify the Kyoto deal and has teamed up with Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, arguing that they should be able to buy pollution "credits" from poorer states which can easily meet their targets for cutting emissions.
Failure to compromise during the Hague conference could scupper any hope of implementing the Kyoto accord, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 5 per cent from 1990 levels by 2008-12.
Besides the divide between the wealthy states, the tough task of getting 180 countries to agree has prompted some strange political alliances as talks get under way.
One of the broadest coalitions is the G77 plus China, a loose bargaining group of over 150 countries, including most developing states, major economies such as Argentina and Brazil, and the OPEC oil producers.
The group wants tough measures to force industrialised states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply.
"The G77 have tried to negotiate together because they feel they are at a disadvantage," said Ms Jennifer Morgan of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). But the group, which is subdivided into factions representing small islands, Latin America and Africa, is itself riven with divisions on climate change strategy.
Saudia Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has little in common with islands threatened by rising water levels and devastating storms, for example.
But it has a strong financial interest in teaming up with them as it wants compensation for expected losses if oil consumption is cut.