Second-generation biofuels such as algae could help green our future (Image: Volker Steger/SPL)

IT’S crunch time. Two years ago in a huge conference hall in Bali, after a marathon negotiating session that left some delegates in tears, envoys from 192 nations set themselves a deadline of 2009. The task in question? To come up with a way of extending the essence of the Kyoto protocol beyond 2012.

The final stages of this process kicked off in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Monday. Delegates now have until 18 December to deliver. We know that the summit won’t provide a legally binding “Copenhagen protocol”. …