Several key developing countries gathered at a UN environmental conference in Poland have agreed to set goals for cutting emissions of greenhouse gas. Mexico has agreed to a date of 2050 to cut carbon emissions 50 percent below 2002 levels. And Brazil has agreed to reduce emissions by up to 45 percent by cutting its annual deforestation rate by 70 percent. On Thursday, former Vice President Al Gore addressed the Poznan conference, warning global warming could create hundreds of millions of climate refugees.

Al Gore: “There could be a dramatic increase in sea level, leading to as many as 450 million climate refugees. The movement of tropical diseases into higher latitudes, the strengthening of storms, the lengthening of droughts, the worsening of floods and the other consequences that the scientists have warned us of can, for the most part, be prevented.”

Democratic Senator John Kerry also addressed the conference, vowing changes to US environmental policy under an Obama White House.

Sen. John Kerry: “It will be like the difference between night and day. For eight years, the Bush administration has avoided really taking action on climate change. President Barack Obama will take action. He will rejoin the global community. He will lead not just rhetorically or by pushing people to do something that we won’t do. He will ask the United States to engage in emissions reductions and responsible climate change policy.”

The Poznan conference is reviewing progress at the halfway mark of talks on a new global accord to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.