New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called on the European Union to provide leadership in programmes fighting global warming through ambitious energy and climate change policy.

The EU is scheduled to meet in December under the French presidency to adopt more measures to cut down the bloc's carbon dioxide emissions, the main gas responsible for global warming. The EU agreed last year to reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, to below 1990 levels.

Ban said decisions taken recently in Brussels pointed to the possibility of the EU adopting a package on fighting climate change, with the potential to foster green growth and create millions of new jobs.

"Developing countries look to the industrialized countries for leadership," Ban said in a message.

"As negotiations continue toward a new agreement on climate change by the end of 2009, the industrialized countries must indicate their willingness to do more to finance clean technology and help developing countries adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change," he said.

Governments are to meet in Poznan, Poland, next year to try and conclude a new agreement on the Kyoto protocol, which deals with the reduction of global warming gases. The treaty will expire in 2012 and a new agreement should be in place before that date. (dpa)