Poznan, Poland - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged rich and poor nations Thursday to agree on new steps to fight global warming, saying the United States and Europe must lead the way in avoiding a climate "catastrophe."

Addressing 189-nation talks on climate change, Ban said the global financial crisis was a chance to speed investment in clean technology.

He evoked the New Deal, a massive public works programme launched by US president Franklin D Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

"We need a Green New Deal," Ban told delegates at Poznan, Poland. "This is a deal that works for all nations, rich as well as poor."

The UN chief opened a two-day session of government ministers, part of efforts to reach a global agreement next December to reduce emissions of gases blamed for global warming.

"What we need, today, is leadership," Ban said. "We must keep climate change at the top of national agendas."

He singled out the United States and the European Union as countries that must lead the way toward a global agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that ties developed nations to emissions cuts and expires in 2012.

President-elect Barack Obama's pledges to curb emissions by the US - long the world's biggest polluter - are "encouraging" and bode well for US leadership, Ban said.

With the 27 EU nations squabbling over the bloc's emissions- cutting plans, Ban appealed to leaders meeting Thursday in Brussels to break the deadlock.

"The decisions currently being made by European leaders in Brussels are at great consequence for the whole world," he said.

China, Brazil and India have also made strides in shifting toward renewable energy and environmentally sound policies, he said.

Emissions of greenhouse gases - mainly carbon dioxide created when fossil fuels burn - have been rising most rapidly in fast-growing emerging economies.

This year's main UN climate conference began December 1, but government leaders were in town for the last two days to add political muscle to the talks.

"Yes, the economic crisis is serious. Yet when it comes to climate change, the stakes are far higher," Ban said.

A key goal at Poznan was to agree on a "work programme" to help governments chart the way through substantive negotiations next year. Delegates agreed on the programme on Wednesday.

"We must break free of entrenched positions - who is to blame, who must act first," Ban said. "Let us save ourselves from catastrophe and usher in a truly sustainable world." (dpa)