At a meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, 163 nations gathered to discuss what actions should be taken after the deadlines described in the Kyoto agreement expire in 2012. Participating countries announced an agreement on how to come to a final understanding by dividing up the process into more manageable sections.

A major sticking point has been the insistence of countries like the United States and Japan that developing nations must take responsibility as they continue to develop, so that they do not add to the current climate problems. However, China, India and other nations that are defined as developing nations say it would hurt their economies and keep them from developing industries that can compete on the global market.

By 2012, the agreement that was signed by most of the Earth's nations will expire. By that time, 37 industrialized nations were to have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent below levels recorded in 1990. Many nations are struggling and think they will fall short of that goal. A new agreement could perhaps be put in place before 2012 that will allow countries to continue toward a reasonable goal.

Delegates decided to break negotiations into steps rather than discussing too many issues at once. All talk of setting emission targets for the U.S. will be postponed until 2009. The June talks in Bonn, Germany, will center on transferring clean technologies from rich to developing countries, and the August event in Ghana will discuss deforestation and Japan's proposal to set industry specific targets that are opposed by developing nations.