A HAMPSHIRE branch of Friends of the Earth has branded the climate change talks in Bali a missed opportunity.

The Gosport and Fareham branch said that although some agreement was made it was clear some countries still had there "heads in the sand".

And the environmental campaign group said the UK and other leading countries did not go far enough to acknowledge time for action was running out.

Meanwhile at home the British government was sending out a mixed message by encouraging recycling and energy efficiency yet pressing ahead with plans to extend Heathrow, develop nuclear energy and more coal fire energy plants.

Friends of the Earth wants the Government's climate change bill to promote renewable energy now.

The Bali agreement signed by around 190 countries launched a two-year negotiating process aimed at securing a binding deal at the 2009 UN summit.

It recognised that "deep cuts" in global emissions will be required to avoid climate change and that evidence the planet was warming was "unequivocal".