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Washington (CNN) -- Greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday.

"The overwhelming amount of scientific studies show that the threat is real," she said.

The announcement stems from a Supreme Court gemstone jewelry   ruling which ordered the agency to determine the impact of carbon emissions not only on the environment, but on public health.

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"These long-overdue findings cement 2009's place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the  cultured freshwater pearl challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean energy reform," Jackson said.

Immediately after the announcement, Jackson was leaving for Copenhagen, Denmark, to participate in the Copenhagen Climate Conference ahead of President Obama's appearance at the end of the week.

 Her statement could provide evidence to the conference that the agency and the Obama administration are taking global warming seriously.

However, Jackson said that Monday's announcement does not require any immediate regulatory action.

The Obama administration is pushing for comprehensive energy legislation from Congress that puts a price on carbon emissions, a so-called "cap and trade" policy that uses market forces as an incentive for businesses to reduce carbon emissions.

Jackson said carbon dioxide emissions go beyond damaging the environment -- they also endanger public health.

The agency made the announcement because it is required to issue an "endangerment finding" -- evidence that carbon pearl jewelry wholesale  emissions are dangerous to the public health -- before it can regulate carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases under the federal Clean Air Act.

The EPA said in April that it would likely make such a ruling regarding carbon emissions and public health. The agency completed a public-comment process before making the announcement.

(CNN) -- On the opening day of the global climate summit in Denmark, a key U.N. official said she is optimistic that there will be a binding international treaty next year to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"The developed countries will have binding targets in the treaty, I hope," U.N. Development Programme chief Helen Clark, New Zealand's former prime minister, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

"But the developing countries are also making their own moves and it seems to me that when China puts its reputation out there saying it will do this, when India puts its reputation out there, I believe they're going to do it."

Clark's comments, to be aired in a program on Tuesday, came as delegates from 192 countries began in Copenhagen what advocates say is the most important international conference since World War II. Delegates at the U.N. Climate Change Conference are striving to put aside national differences, end finger-pointing, and reach a consensus on how to prepare the ground for a treaty designed to limit global warming.

But the two-week conference has been overshadowed to some degree by the publication of hacked e-mails from Britain's University of East Anglia, a top global climate research center, that critics say freshwater pearl jewelry  prove some scientists deliberately manipulated data to reinforce their theories on global warming.

One of those critics, Lord Nigel Lawson, the former British chancellor of the exchequer in the Thatcher government, said he supports an investigation into what is being called "climategate." He said the e-mails appear to reveal serious wrongdoing by some scientists.

"There's been no further global warming since the pearl beads  end of the 20th century," he told Amanpour on Monday. He added it is more important for developing countries to focus on the fastest economic development possible to alleviate poverty.

"If there is a problem of warming -- there might be freshwater pearl strands , there might not be -- if there is, then you adapt to it, as mankind adapts to enormously different temperatures at different parts of the globe at the present time," Lawson said.

London, England (CNN) -- G20 economies need to quadruple cuts in their carbon intensity levels in the next ten years or risk a dangerous rise in global temperatures by 2050, according to new report.

During the eight years to 2008, G20 members cut their carbon intensity by just 0.8 percent each year, according to the "Low Carbon Economy Index" released by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Tuesday.

That is less than half the amount the report's authors say is needed to keep the world within a "global carbon budget" of 1,300 gigatonnes of CO2 by 2050.

"If the world stays on this track we will have wholesale pearl necklace  used up the entire global carbon budget for the first half of this century by 2034, 16 years ahead of schedule," said John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The firm's carbon budget is based on recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that the world must limit the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to 450ppm.

In its Fourth Assessment released in 2007, the IPCC wholesale pearl jewelry
 said exceeding that target would risk a global temperature rise of more than two degrees Celsius which could tip the world into irreversible climate change.

In total, the PwC report says the G20 economies have veered off the nominated climate goal by some 10 percent.

The report's authors divided the total carbon budget between the G20, based on their GDP and contribution to current greenhouse gas emissions.

Sixty-three percent of the carbon budget was allocated to China, the U.S., the EU and India. Russia accounted for four percent, and Japan, three percent. Other nations were grouped under "other," representing 30 percent of the total share.

The report found only Russia had beaten carbon targets between 2000 and 2008, mainly due to improvements in energy efficiency. India was close to achieving its targets, but the remaining nations had fallen well behind on action needed to keep carbon emissions in check.
If the world stays on this track we will have used up akoya pearl necklace  the entire global carbon budget for the first half of this century by 2034
--John Hawksworth

"The PwC Low Carbon Achievement index highlights that, despite the widening consensus around the need to decarbonize, few countries are doing enough to live within our estimates of their carbon budgets," Hawksworth said.

To get back on track, the G20 members need to cut carbon intensity four times faster than they have been, by 3.5 percent each year until 2020, the report concludes.

By 2050, global annual carbon emissions from energy use need to be around half the level recorded in 2008.

"All this while sustaining a global economy nearly four times as large as today and a population around one and a half times as large," said Leo Johnson, partner, sustainability and climate change at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

But he says it is possible.

"China has decarbonized since the 1990s at an average rate of over four percent a year, some way above the 3.5 percent a year reduction in intensity we need globally to 2020."

"The technology is known, the policy framework is known. What we need now is the political will and direction to implement," he added.

SCORECARDS

European Union -- Seven to eight percent behind where it should be in terms of meeting 2050 emissions targets. Of member states, the report says France is a "relatively good performer" whereas Italy is lagging.

The U.S. -- Shows similar results to the EU, a shortfall of seven to eight percent.

China -- Made significant progress in cutting carbon intensity in the 1990s but fared less well in the decade after when energy consumption rose faster than GDP.

India -- Has achieved "significant" improvements in energy efficiency between 2000 and 2008, but has made less progress so far in diversifying away from fossil fuels

Russia -- The only country to have reduced carbon intensity since 2000 by more than expected. Can be attributed to improvements in energy efficiency.

Saudi Arabia -- Considered a special case given its high dependence on fossil fuels. Scores very poorly on the index.

The old adage, ¡°timing is everything¡± certainly rings true with the request by the Dubai Government for a standstill on payments by Dubai World for a period of a half year.
Investor confidence in Dubai, exemplified by developments like the palm islands, has been shaken.
Investor confidence in Dubai, exemplified by developments like the palm islands, has been shaken.

As timing goes, it was curious at best, coming just before the Eid el Adha holidays in the region and the long Thanksgiving break in the United States. Adding to the intrigue is that Dubai successfully raised $5 billion in a bond offering taken up by two Abu Dhabi government controlled banks the same day

This left investors scratching their heads wondering what the motivation was. I spoke to a number of fund managers and bankers with investments in the Emirate and, like most politics in the region, there is more to it than meets the eye.

As one fund manager said,  Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE, is playing hardball. He is  pearl beads out to ¡°teach a lessons to his boys.¡± His ¡°boys¡± are the names which have become well-known power brokers in the build up of Dubai Inc. over the past two decades.

It has been a busy week for Dubai Inc.

Sheikh Mohammed cleared out his advisory board at the Investment Corporation of Dubai and pushed out the respected head of the Dubai International Financial Center who also served as Vice Governor of the UAE Central Bank.

The names on his advisory board wholesale pearl jewelry
 included Sultan Bin Sulayem the Chairman of Dubai World and its property arm Nakheel. This I am certain was not an easy move by the Ruler.

Dubai¡¯s rapid development was closely linked to the Palm and World property developments. I am sure we have all looked at their images offshore on Google earth at least once. Dubai World was also the force behind the high profile dust up in Washington with the P&O ports buyout.

Many I spoke to believe Dubai World is being singled out for good reason. Of the total $80 billion debt on the  freshwater pearl jewelry books, $59 billion of that comes under its leaky umbrella.

In fact, others within Sheikh Mohammed¡¯s inner circle seemed to think it is only right for Dubai World to clean up their books like everyone else has been asked to do. That task is underway today with the help of accountancy firm Deloitte.

The other question being raised amongst global investors is the level of bench strength for Sheikh Mohammed or who he is turning to during this shake-up. Names at the forefront today include Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani, Director-General of Dubai Ruler's court and Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre.

They were in Sheikh Mohammed's delegation during this week¡¯s visit to London and the response to their moves has been positive so far, according to bankers and investors I spoke with.

There is a sense of irony after what has gone on this week. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown congratulated the Dubai ruler for the actions taken to respond to the debt challenges during the bi-lateral meeting. It is something the PM knows a great deal about, with U.K. government debt soaring to 12 percent of GDP.

That nod of goodwill came before Dubai¡¯s request for a standstill agreement, and left investors wondering what is next.  As one regional economist said this was a ¡°disappointment in a way.¡± Dubai Inc. had cleared all the hurdles on the path to recovery but appears to have stumbled on this one.

Posted by: CNN business anchor, John Defterios
Filed under: Business • Marketplace Middle East

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Nearly 130 people were killed and more than 400 wounded early Tuesday when a string of five suicide car bombings hit government buildings, a neighborhood and a commercial district in Baghdad, Iraqi authorities said.

Iraq's Finance and Labor ministries and a courthouse were the targets of three of the terror attacks, which shattered a two-month period of relative calm in the capital. By evening, Interior Ministry officials put the toll at 127 dead and 448 wounded, the worst since twin car bombings killed and wounded hundreds of people in late October.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the attacks were aimed at undermining Iraq's upcoming elections, now set for March after a lengthy impasse in the country's parliament.

"The timing of these cowardly terrorist attacks in Baghdad today, after the success of Iraqi Parliament in overcoming the last obstacle in the election procedures, shows that the enemies of Iraq and its people are aiming to create chaos in the country and prevent any progress in the political process and to disrupt the procedures of the coming elections," he said.

The first of the vehicles blew up in southern Baghdad's Dora district at about 10 a.m. (2 a.m. ET), followed by four more car bombs about half an hour later. Three of the explosions struck at the heart of the Iraqi capital, detonating a few minutes apart.

One hit the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, while another hit the new site of the Ministry of Finance near al-Qashla Square. The  pearl beads ministry's former building was destroyed in a bombing in August.

Another bomb exploded in the busy commercial district of Nahdha, and the fifth bomb blew up outside the Karkh Civil Court in western Baghdad's Mansour district. The sounds of sporadic gunfire and emergency sirens could be heard immediately following the attacks, and smoke from the blasts billowed into the morning sky.

Suicide bombers carried out the five attacks, Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta, a  freshwater pearl earrings spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Command, told CNN.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks and offered his "heartfelt condolences" to the families of those killed, according to a statement from his office.

"The Secretary-General appeals to the people of Iraq to remain steadfast in the face of these attacks and to continue their determined efforts to achieve national reconciliation," the statement said. "The United Nations remains committed to supporting them."

And the human rights group Amnesty International said there was "absolutely no justification" for the bombings, noting that  wholesale pearl earrings indiscriminate attacks on civilians are war crimes under international law.

Suicide bombers were also blamed for the two bombings October 25 in Baghdad, which killed 160 people and wounded 540. Those bombs detonated in quick succession at mid-morning on a Sunday, the first day of the workweek in Iraq, in the Salhiya district of central Baghdad. The location was close to the Foreign Ministry.

Government officials, including Baghdad's governor, questioned how the bombers were able to penetrate the area's security, which was supposed to have been improved in the months leading up to the attacks. Authorities subsequently detained more than 60 people responsible for security in the district where the bombings took place.

And Tuesday's attacks sparked debate among Iraqi lawmakers about the capability of the country's security forces. Noor Aldeen al-Haiali, a member of Iraq's parliament from the country's largest Sunni Arab party, said al-Maliki's government "failed in taking the measures to protect the targeted Iraqi citizens, who are shocked and getting slaughtered on a daily basis."

Ali al-Adeeb, a senior member of the prime minister's Dawa party, said security has improved in recent years. But Kurdish lawmaker Mahmood Othman told CNN that more attacks could be possible "because the people against the political process, against the elections and against stability in Iraq" will try to disrupt the elections. And he said stepped-up security measures won't be enough to deter them.

"There should be some political stability, political reform, reconciliation," he said. "These are also very, very important to provide security."