In the pushmi-pullyu world of what to do about climate change, results from the latest round of discussions might not come as much of a surprise. We need to respond quickly. And wait.

Specialists meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, said the impacts of global warming are accelerating at an unanticipated pace. They agreed “more stringent and urgent action” is needed if the world is to avoid being burned by out-of-control climate change, according to Nature News.

The group, which included natural and social scientists, met to “provide a scientific update to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) 2007 assessment on global warming,” according to Nature. Although they won’t have an official role in December when national governments meet in Copenhagen to hammer out a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, their report—to be released in June 2009—is likely to get some play.

"We need hard targets to be agreed in December that state when we start and how much we do,” Martin Parry, former IPCC working group co-chair on climate impact and adaptation, is quoted as saying. “A clear statement from 2,000 scientists should certainly make a difference.”

Maybe not. A little less than a week after the meeting, the head of the Global Environment Facility, an environmental funding agency, advised delaying a global treaty if the United States isn’t able to play ball, according to a Reuters report.

“I really think what is very important is not so much that we do it in Copenhagen, what is very important is that we get real good commitments,” Monique Barbut is quoted as saying. “I do not honestly see European countries agreeing today to massively scale up their level of international solidarity to tackle climate change unless they get something in return.”

Reuters cited President Bill Clinton’s lack of congressional backing for the 1997 Kyoto Protocols, coupled with the likelihood that President Barak Obama would be similarly unsupported by legislation in December, as the reason for the negative speculation.

While December will tell whether climate talk will turn to climate action, one thing’s a little clearer—the basis of the American lack of confidence in climate change capabilities cited in Climate Change and the American Mind. According to the study, one percent believed humanity had the ability to solve global warming, but were unsure whether we actually will.