A Vatican delegation will attend the upcoming United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, the Holy See press office confirmed on Thursday. A six-person delegation will be led by the Vatican's permanent representative at the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore. Participants at the summit, which runs from December 7 to 18, have been tasked with drafting an agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol when it expires in 2012.

The Vatican was not asked to sign the Kyoto protocol but senior Church figures, including Pope Benedict XVI, have frequently spoken out on the need to address climate change. In a recent address to the UN General Assembly, Migliore said ''multidimensional cooperation'' was critical. ''Responsible human stewardship of the Earth [must be placed] at the centre of international, national and individual efforts to address the causes and consequences of climate change,'' the archbishop said.

A year ago, the Holy See installed 2,400 rooftop solar panels on an auditorium roof in a bid to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and has pledged to meet 20% of its energy demands from renewable sources by 2020. The Vatican team will join the 192 country delegations scheduled to attend, a number of which will be headed by state leaders, among which Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. On Thursday, the Italian division of international environmental group Greenpeace erected an ice-sculpture of the premier in the heart of Rome in recognition of the premier's decision to attend. According to Greenpeace Italia's climate change spokesman, Francesco Tedesco, the sculpture should melt over the next four days, to coincide with the start of the summit.

Tedesco said the premier's decision to attend was a ''positive'' one but called for ''more coherent energy policies in Italy''. Unveiling a new Greenpeace study on renewable energy in Italy, Tedesco noted that 93% of the country's energy needs are currently met through fossil fuels but said the right policies could reverse the situation. ''Renewable sources could meet over 60% of the country's primary energy needs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 71% on 1990 levels by 2050,'' the study suggested. The report was also highly critical of the centre-right government's decision to revive nuclear power in Italy after a 20-year ban.

Most observers agree there is almost no chance that delegates at next week's summit will reach a legally binding deal on capping greenhouse gas emissions.

Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo is one of many to recommend the summit should instead be viewed as the first stage in an ongoing process.

Leaders from the world's eight richest nations pledged to cut their emissions by 80% by 2050 during a meeting this summer, chaired by Italy in its capacity as Group of Eight president.

They also agreed to work towards a global reduction of 50% by the same date, although this promise was not backed by high-emissions industrializing nations such as China and India. On Thursday, India for the first time joined China in agreeing to reduce its ''carbon intensity'', the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of GDP, by 2020.

Beijing has said it will aim for a 40-45% reduction compared with 2005, while India has announced a 20-25% target. The ''carbon intensity'' measure focuses solely on carbon dioxide and does not take into account other gases blamed for global warming, such as methane. Subject to congressional approval, the US will aim to reduce emissions to 17% below 2005 levels, or 4% below 1990 levels, by 2020. Italy is bound by EU targets, which demand a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 on 1990 levels. The EU also requires member states to meet 20% of their energy needs from renewable sources by that date.