UN climate talks reach agreement in principle

BANGKOK, May 4 (Reuters) UN climate talks are near a formal agreement on costs and ways to fight climate change with just one small issue to be decided before the report is adopted formally, a delegate said today.

A UN official said approval was expected within a few hours.

''The text has been agreed but formal approval is at 10 am,'' said meeting spokeswoman Carola Traverso Saibante, referring to the 0300 GMT time when delegates were due to reconvene to endorse the report.

The talks between scientists and government officials from more than 100 countries ran into the early hours today to try to resolve complex issues raised in the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The final issue to be decided centred on the meaning of the word ''uncertainty'' in one of the report's annexes, said a delegate who did not want to be named.

China and Europe sparred over the costs and levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Delegates also debated the role of nuclear power.

China, the world's number two emitter of greenhouse gases after the United States, wanted the IPCC report to exclude wording about scenarios for stabilising gas levels near current levels.

Beijing objects to any language suggesting a cap on emissions or stabilisation levels, wording it feels could leave it vulnerable to demands in future climate talks to slow rapid economic growth or spend vast sums on cleaner technology.

The report is the third to be released this year by the UN panel, which draws on the work of 2,500 scientists.

The previous two painted a grim future of human-induced global warming causing more hunger, droughts, heatwaves and rising seas.

REUTERS PBB BST0735