Clinton, with Republican US Senator John McCain standing by, claimed that the battle against global warming had lost ground under the Bush Administration. But "we're working now" to secure broad political agreement on climate issues, she said.

McCain is leading the delegation, which will study effects of global warming on Svalbard and meet with top Norwegian government officials. He said the US "sooner or later" will be forced to take some decisive action on the environmental concerns.

The Bush Administration has rejected measures to limit carbon dioxide emissions like those included in the so-called Kyoto Agreement, which could slow global warming. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen was clear in his opinion that "the US should have ratified" the Kyoto pact.

Petersen said he was pleasantly surprised that such an influential delegation from the US was interested in traveling to Svalvard to study the effects of global warming. McCain, who hails from the same party as Bush, nonetheless wants to push forward a more aggressive fight against global warming, including measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.