"When you walk around the conference hall here, delegates are saying there are lots of issues on the agenda, but there's only one real problem, and that's the United States," said Bill Hare of Greenpeace International.

Canada's Environment Minister Stephane Dion said Monday that he would "welcome any idea" to get the United States on board.
"We cannot do without the Americans because they represent 25 percent of emissions, and an even greater percentage of the solution," he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meanwhile, said Tuesday he believed the United States would eventually come on board with mandatory emissions caps.
"I believe there will be a binding international agreement to succeed Kyoto when the Protocol expires in 2012 that will include all major economies," Blair said in a review of British energy policy.

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