Credit crisis not threatening U.N. climate talks: envoy

By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.N.-led climate change talks that aim to rein in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions are running out of time but have not been derailed by the financial crisis, Australia's top climate diplomat said on Friday.

Officials from about 190 nations gather from December 1 in the Polish city of Poznan as part of a series of meetings on how to expand the Kyoto Protocol climate pact from 2013.

The talks are meant to conclude at the end of next year in the Danish capital Copenhagen and aim to bind the United States, China, India and other major emitters to curbs on their greenhouse pollution.

But many specifics of the new pact have yet to be sorted out.

"I haven't detected any change in approach as a result of the financial crisis," said Howard Bamsey, Australia's special envoy for climate change.

Fears have grown the financial crisis and looming global recession would delay efforts to fight global warming.

Yvo de Boer, the United Nations' top climate official, said last week both issues could make citizens in rich nations reluctant to divert taxes to tackling climate change.

"It's obviously pre-occupying many of the people who will have to be involved in the climate change process. But I'm not seeing any immediate impact on the negotiations," Bamsey told Reuters in an interview from Canberra.

"We're now in a process of genuine negotiation where there is a very broad commitment to reaching agreement. That's created momentum," said Bamsey.

Bamsey is a veteran climate change diplomat who took part in the negotiations that led to the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and has attended all but one of the annual U.N. climate change meetings.

TOUGH ISSUES

Over the next year, nations need to resolve how to fund and assist in adapting to climate change impacts, such as rising seas and more intense droughts, floods and melting glaciers.

"What has to be negotiated is the role for international cooperation beyond local action," Bamsey said in regard to finding a formula that helps all nations adapt.

Agreement on transfering clean energy technologies is another key issue. So, too, is deciding on the best methods to reduce emissions by paying developing nations to keep their tropical rainforests standing so they can soak up vast amounts of CO2.

Technology transfer is a major demand of China and other developing nations to help them clean up their industries while keeping their economies growing.