Climate activists condemn G20 talks

Climate change protesters bury their heads in the sand in St Andrews

Finance ministers "failed" to deliver on climate change concerns in the run up to a summit in Copenhagen, campaigners said.

The criticism came after G20 members finished talks in Scotland, one month before the UN gathering.

Environmental group WWF said the meeting in St Andrews had been an "irrelevant side-show" on the subject.

Oxfam said the finance leaders of the world's most powerful economies had not lived up to the rhetoric.

Chancellor Alistair Darling had claimed a deal on finance to tackle climate change is "essential" as he looked towards the Copenhagen meeting in December.

A communique issued by the G20 members said they were "committed to take action" to tackle climate change and "work towards an ambitious outcome".

Finance ministers said they will "commit to take forward further work on climate change finance, to define financing options and institutional arrangements".

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was at the G20 meeting and met Danish premier Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

Downing Street said the invitation was made for talks ahead of next month's crucial climate change summit.

But Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, said the G20 communique amounted to "warm words". He added: "The G20 finance ministers meeting turned out to be a mostly irrelevant side-show on the way to the talks in Copenhagen in a month's time.