Energy and environment ministers from 20 nations Tuesday opened a new round of talks in London with focus on curbing climate change through cleaner technology.

Opening the so-called G20 meeting, UK environment secretary Margaret Beckett said the timetable on climate change was being dictated by nature, not politics.

The two-day meeting brings the G8 group of industrialized countries alongside some developing nations such as China, India, Mexico and Brazil.

"Technology is essential to make the transition to a low-carbon economy and targets ... have a vital role to play in driving forward that progress," Beckett told delegates.

"There is more evidence that the oceans are warming, that a long-term reduction in arctic ice cover is accelerating and that the strength of hurricanes has increased in the last 30 years," she said.

The discussions follow the climate agreement drawn up at July's G8 summit in Gleneagles, which emphasized the importance of climate-friendly technologies such as clean coal, nuclear power and renewables.

"We face a timetable that is driven by nature, science and by the predicted effect of climate change on our world, not by our own negotiating processes," Beckett added.

As the rotating presidency of the G8 this year, Britain put climate change on the top of agenda of the bloc of wealthiest nations plus Russia.

Prime Minister Tony Blair hopes to break the deadlock over the Kyoto Protocol, which US government has refused to ratify for economic reasons.

Blair said cuts in greenhouse gas emissions can only be achieved by establishing an initiative that includes the United States.

Source: Xinhua