Intensive diplomatic efforts to agree the elements of a framework by the end of the year for a new global climate change treaty are starting to make headway, according to a European official close to the negotiations.
The tone of the debate has changed in the United States and Australia - key nations which rejected the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions - and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made it a top target of her G8 presidency this year.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, with only months left in office and keen to find a positive legacy to offset the damage done by Iraq, is using his weight to help secure a deal.
He meets Merkel in Germany tomorrow to discuss tactics.
"We need to work for agreement by the G8 plus five on the elements of a post-Kyoto framework including a global stabilisation goal and a cap and trade system, a framework that includes not just the U.S. but also India and China," Blair's spokesman said today.
Kyoto only runs to 2012 and - given that it took two years to negotiate and eight more to bring into force - there is an urgency to efforts to extend its life and expand its scope and membership.
Officials from industrialised and developing nations are holding behind-the-scenes talks trying to hammer out elements of the framework ahead of talks in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
Catherine Pearce, climate change expert at Friends of the Earth, said talks were moving very fast but there were no serious indications of a crucial change of heart in Washington.
"At the moment I am really quite sceptical. I get no sense that (US President George W.) Bush is about to move on this," she said.
Scientists predict that average global temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century because of burning fossil fuels, putting millions at risk from rising sea levels, floods, famines and violent weather.
The main reason for Washington and Canberra rejecting Kyoto was that it was not binding on big developing countries.
China, with an economy growing at around 10 percent a year, is developing an array of energy sources from renewables like wind and hydro to nuclear power. But it is also building a coal- fired power station every five days polluting the atmosphere.
The idea is that a replacement Kyoto would bring everyone into the fold but allow less stringent measures for developing nations than industrialised countries.
Efforts are under way to get the summit in Germany in June of the G8 plus five - China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa - to agree the main elements of a post-2012 framework.