Delegates at UN climate talks on Tuesday targeted more than a dozen new industrial chemicals, including one that is a lot more potent than CO2, for inclusion in the successor to the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty, which runs out in 2012.

The synthetic compounds are potent greenhouse gases that could, if produced in large quantities, contribute significantly to global warming, scientists warn.

"In terms of the impact these new gases will have over the next decade, it is not that significant," said Steve Sawyer, executive director of the Global Wind Energy Council, an industry lobbying group.