UN chief warns against waiting for climate deal

The world should not wait until next year to cobble together a new climate change pact, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

Mr Ban, addressing diplomats and officials at a ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the UN climate panel, said countries negotiating a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol should aim for a meaningful breakthrough in Poznan, Poland, in December.

Delaying major advances until the end of next year, when a Copenhagen summit will aim to finalise an accord to tackle rising global temperatures, may be ill-advised, Mr Ban told the event in Geneva.

"We must fight the urge to postpone everything until Copenhagen. Surely we can make concrete progress on some issues," the UN chief said, adding that the Poland meeting should serve as "a very successful bridge" for Copenhagen.

"I would emphasise the need to make the most of the upcoming opportunity in Poznan," he said. "It is my sincere hope that by the end of this year, in Poznan parties to the climate change convention will have achieved a better understanding of a shared vision for long-term cooperative action."

The Kyoto Protocol binds 37 developed nations to curb emissions of global warming greenhouse gases until 2012. Neither the US nor China, the top two greenhouse gas emitters, have imposed limits under Kyoto.

Negotiations last week in Ghana, in which countries made commitments to help save tropical forests, were the latest of a series of international meetings meant to culminate in a new accord to counter the effects of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), formed in 1988, has warned global warming will cause rising seas, big storms, heatwaves and droughts. That UN panel shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore last year.

President George W. Bush, who has opposed the Kyoto accord, will leave office in January. But the slowing global economy may make it difficult for Washington and others to accept a climate change accord that could add to energy costs.

Mr Ban said it was imperative for the new US government to play a leadership role in climate change for the international community to agree on strong emission cut targets.

"Whoever may be elected as President of the US, they may be in a better position to address and to lead this process," the UN chief told journalists at the Geneva event.