The European Union urged all nations Sunday to make clear how they will tackle climate change, saying the world needs a roadmap this year on future action even if a treaty appears out of reach.

Negotiators from around the world are meeting through Friday in Panama, hoping to find common ground on the thorniest issues before a closely watched UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa opens on November 28.

The Kyoto Protocol's obligations for wealthy nations to cut carbon emissions run out at the end of 2012, leading the European Union to propose a temporary new round of commitments under the landmark treaty to avoid any gap.

But chief EU climate negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger said that any new commitments by the Europeans needed to be part of a "broader package," noting that the bloc accounted for only 11 percent of global emissions.

"I think we need to know... what is this other 89 percent going to commit itself to? This is something where we need to have an answer," Runge-Metzger told reporters at the talks in Panama City.

"We know of course that Durban is not going to deliver a new legal outcome, a legal treaty. Time is just too short for that," he said.

"But what we need to produce in Durban is a roadmap towards a global legal framework," he said.

UN-backed scientists have warned that carbon emissions need to peak by mid-decade to avoid irreversible damage from climate change, with the growing incidence of extreme weather around the world likely to worsen.

Small island states have also lobbied hard for tough decisions on climate change, fearing that melting ice will lead to rising water levels that could literally destroy low-lying civilizations.

But China and the United States, the two biggest carbon emitters, are both out of the Kyoto Protocol. The treaty requires no action by emerging economies, leading former US president George W. Bush to reject the treaty as unfair.

China -- along with fellow emerging economies such as India -- has welcomed EU calls for another round under the Kyoto Protocol and urged wealthy nations to follow up on promises to provide climate aid to the poorest countries.

US President Barack Obama's administration has actively taken part in the negotiations, but he faces intense opposition from the rival Republican Party in which prominent members have questioned the science behind climate change.

Canada, Japan and Russia are part of the Kyoto Protocol but have made clear that they will not join another round of the treaty as it does not include emerging economies.

Australia and Norway have jointly proposed to set a 2015 deadline for a new treaty, with all countries -- wealthy and developing -- listing their actions and gradually making them more ambitious and binding.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres told reporters that the written proposal by Australia and Norway was "very helpful" but said it was too soon to say if governments would rally around it.

"I have been very gratified to see that over the past few months," she said, "governments are really beginning to think very seriously about how they would like to advance" action on climate change.

Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, voiced hope that the Panama talks would start finding possible outcomes for Durban.

From the UN leadership's view, "the intent here in Panama is not to come out of Panama with a long, accordion-type text that puts everybody's positions one behind the other, but rather to begin to work on possible draft texts," she said.

earlier related report
UN talks start in Panama on climate deadlock
Panama City (AFP) Oct 1, 2011 - Climate envoys from around the world opened talks Saturday in Panama in a bid to help break the deadlock on key sticking points ahead of a closely watched year-end conference in Durban, South Africa.

The major obstacle is the fate of the landmark Kyoto Protocol, which requires wealthy countries to cut carbon emissions blamed for climate change. Its obligations run out at the end of 2012 with no new treaty in sight.

Officials do not expect any firm announcements during the week of UN-led talks in Panama but hope to lay the groundwork for the Durban conference, which opens November 28 and is seen as a last chance to take action on Kyoto.

Dessima Williams, who represents small island states that fear catastrophic damage from rising water levels, appealed to all negotiators to "step forward and guarantee the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol."

"Countries that are serious about addressing climate change should be using this meeting to raise, not lower, expectations for Durban," Williams, who is Grenada's representative to the United Nations, said in a statement.

"Last year, we learned that greenhouse gas emissions hit their highest level on record, and some parties are acting like we have all the time in the world to act when, in fact, any additional delay endangers the survival of entire nations."

The European Union, the main champion of the Kyoto Protocol, has proposed a new round of commitments under the treaty. Emerging economies such as China -- which is now the largest emitter and has no obligations under Kyoto -- welcome the idea.

But no other major economy that would be affected by a Kyoto extension has endorsed the European Union view, with Canada, Japan and Russia all adamantly opposed.

Australia and Norway have submitted a joint plan that would set a 2015 deadline for a new climate treaty that involves both developed and developing nations.

To avoid any gap in action -- a key fear of environmentalists -- the Australian-Norwegian proposal would ask all nations to chart out climate actions for the coming years, which would gradually become more ambitious until they fold into a post-Kyoto treaty.

Scientists backed by the United Nations have warned that carbon emissions must peak by 2015, fearing that otherwise damage from climate change will become irreversible with rising floods, droughts and other extreme weather.

The United States, the world's second largest emitter, was the only nation to reject the Kyoto Protocol, with former president George W. Bush saying it was unfair to developed countries.

While technically not part of Kyoto discussions, the United States has stood firm that it would only accept an agreement that includes all countries.

"We could consider it only if it's genuinely binding with respect to all the major players, whether developed or developing, including China and others," Todd Stern, the top US climate negotiator, said before the talks.

President Barack Obama is facing strong opposition on climate change from the rival Republican Party, many of whose members dispute science that human activity is causing rising temperatures.

The Republicans' control of the House of Representatives throws another question mark on pledges made at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit for rich nations to drum up $100 billion a year in climate help for the most vulnerable countries starting in 2020.

Japan, by far the largest donor to near-time assistance, is recovering from its devastating March tsunami, while the European Union is in the midst of a public debt scare.