NEW YORK, NY September 24, 2007 —It won't come as consolation to the thousands caught in gridlock near the United Nations but today's agenda at the world body will be all about global warming. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has a preview.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is billing it as the biggest confab on global warming to date. On the guest list - 70 heads of state and national representatives from 80 other countries. President Bush won't be among them, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will also attend. UN climate officials hope to achieve a global consensus that has eluded them since the US refused to support the Kyoto protocols that required industrial nations to reduce their production of greenhouse gases by 2012.

The Bush administration opposed the treaty, saying it would hurt the US economy while not including in the pact the fast-growing nations of China and India. For WNYC, I’m Bob Hennelly.