Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said delegates on Indonesia's Bali had discussed carbon capture and storage with enthusiasm.

But he said more research was needed on the still-experimental technology, which some experts say would cut about 35 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from steel mills, cement plants and power plants.

"I do not expect a decision at this conference on the inclusion of carbon capture and storage," he told reporters on the third day of the conference.

"I think further analytical work has to be done."

The technology would capture carbon dioxide released by power plants or other factories, transport it and bury it underground -- either in old oil fields or coal mines, or even at the bottom of the ocean.

The theory goes that once the gas is buried, it would no longer contribute to global warming, and environmental groups have called for more investment and research into carbon capture and storage.

Europe and the United States are already experimenting with the technology, but it is still in the development stage and requires massive investment to make it commercially viable.

OPEC leaders said last month that they were planning to make carbon capture and storage the centrepiece of their newfound green agenda by urging greater use of the emerging technique to curb carbon emissions.

Nearly 190 countries have gathered at the UNFCCC meeting in Bali, which aims to see them agree to negotiate a new regime to combat climate change when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.

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