COLUMN-Uncertainty stalks climate science-Gerard Wynn

(The author is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.)

By Gerard Wynn

LONDON Jan 26 (Reuters) - If public interest in climate change can be measured by political speeches, the issue has fallen on hard times haunted by uncertainty in the science and a continuing economic downturn which demands attention.

In his 7,000-word, annual State of the Union address, U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday mentioned the words "climate change" once, while some Republican contenders for the November national election deny the problem exists.

In Europe only a handful of 27 European Union member states supports a shift to tougher climate targets.

Urgency to address climate science is hobbled by uncertainty in the underlying science, which has been exploited by sceptics in a sometimes brutal debate with activists which has added to the confusion.

Climate science deals almost exclusively in probabilities which are less likely to grab people burdened with financial worries and governments battling to shore up their economies.

Three years ago world leaders were mobilising to try and agree a global climate deal and Obama's administration was hoping to pass a climate bill.

Both initiatives flopped.