Scientific news grim for UN talks on global warming

PARIS (AFP) - An upcoming UN conference on climate change is taking place against a darkening background of scientific news, for barely a week goes by without a major study adding to a tall pile of distressing evidence.

Doubts about the reality of global warming that were significant half a dozen years ago have today shrunk to zero, leaving only denialists and fossil-industry lobbyists in opposition.

A steady drumbeat of data confirms the rise in Earth's surface temperature and the part played by oil, gas and coal, whose invisible carbon pollution traps the Sun's heat, in effect creating a global greenhouse.

Scientists report melting sea ice around the North Pole, shrivelling glaciers in Greenland and Europe, retreating permafrost in Siberia and progressive acidification of the seas from atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).