**ADVANCE FOR MONDAY, NOV. 23** FILE - This Dec. 8, 1997 file photo shows then Vice President Al Gore, center, shaking hands with former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, right, as former Japanese Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi looks on prior to their talks in Kyoto, western Japan. Since an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas pollution was signed in Kyoto, Japan, in Dec. 1997, the level of carbon dioxide in the air has increased 6.5 percent. Officials from across the world will convene in Copenhagen next month to seek a follow-up pact, one that President Barack Obama says "has immediate operational effect...an important step forward in the effort to rally the world around a solution." (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara, Pool, File)