SIRACUSA (Sicily) - THE United States insisted on Thursday that it had a common purpose and felt a sense of urgency over climate change, taking part in environment talks with other Group of Eight nations and developing countries.

Delegates are holding three days of talks in this eastern Sicilian city amid high expectations over the extent of the US commitment to tackle climate change.

The Siracusa meeting is intended to lay some groundwork ahead of a crucial UN conference in December in Copenhagen. That meeting aims to replace the 1998 Kyoto Protocol and draft a new agreement to regulate carbon emissions. The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

The United States rejected Kyoto, with former President George W. Bush citing potential economic harm and lack of participation by developing countries like China or India.

President Barack Obama has made combating climate change a priority of his administration.

Ms Jackson said she remains hopeful even as business lobbyists and others who are invested in the status quo 'will try and come up with horror stories to pull us back'. Ms Jackson would not discuss climate change negotiations or US objectives in emission cuts in Copenhagen. She detailed the efforts currently under way in Washington to deal with the global warming of the planet and its effects on the world's population.

The EPA said earlier this month that rising sea levels, increased flooding and more intense heat waves and storms that come with climate change are a threat to public health and safety. The agency predicted that warming will worsen other pollution problems such as smog.

It said that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are a major hazard to Americans' health. The move was seen as a first step to regulating pollution linked to climate change.

Top environmental advisers to President Obama have broadly endorsed a Democratic House proposal to tackle climate change. The draft bill would cap heat-trapping greenhouse gases and reduce the nation's reliance on fossil fuels.

It calls for a reduction of greenhouse gases by 20 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020, and 83 per cent by midcentury. It also includes measures aimed at reducing the use of fossil energy such as requiring utilities to produce a quarter of their electricity from renewable sources, and calling for tougher standards to promote conservation. -- AP