Talks may go to last minute

The world may have to wait until the dying seconds of a UN climate summit in December for a global deal to channel business dollars into low-carbon energy, said industry analysts.

Senior executives warned that progress so far in UN-led climate talks was inadequate to guarantee the future of low-carbon markets which could transform how the world gets its energy.

Political posturing may delay a deal until midnight on the last day of the December 7-18 talks, said the head of the UN climate panel Rajendra Pachauri , who was nevertheless hopeful of a deal to put the world "on the right path".

"The wiggle room is there even at the stroke of midnight when the conference is ending," said Mr Pachauri, chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

International Energy Agency head Nobuo Tanaka was unsure of the outcome of the UN talks, which reconvene in Barcelona on November 2, but said recession had given the world a head start by causing the biggest drop in carbon emissions in 40 years.

"Usually, the real outcome in negotiations comes out at the last minute, so we don't know. We feel this economic crisis provides a window of opportunity," he told an IEA meeting in Paris.

Business leaders said measures taken so far were inadequate to mobilise the billions of dollars needed to convert the global economy to leaner, low-carbon energy like wind and solar power.