Revised Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming Seen as Less Rigid.

Byline: Carter Dougherty

Jul. 25--BONN, Germany--The international climate agreement hammered out over the past three days to save the 1997 Kyoto Protocol will curb emissions of the greenhouse gases thought to cause global warming only slightly and may even permit increases, according to scientists and analysts.

Environmental groups supported the deal, keenly aware that the Bonn talks on finalizing the global-warming treaty negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 were their last chance. But many activists complained that the pact now bears only faint resemblance to the one negotiated in Japan.

Countries will be able to emit more earth-warming gases than permitted under Kyoto because the Bonn agreement gives them credit for having "sinks" …