Sherwin Bryce-Pease; New York

As a historic conference on climate change opened in Denmark, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called it a decisive moment from his headquarters in New York. He was meeting with France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who called for the creation of a new environment agency that will monitor commitments made in Copenhagen, while stressing that developed countries need all the help they can get.

It's his landmark issue, his defining cause, but the UN Chief has had to shift the goalposts slightly. Ban said: “Our goal is to have a legally binding treaty in Copenhagen, as soon as possible in 2010, but before  that we must have a strong political agreement in Copenhagen”.

Discussions centred around how to generate funding, which remains one of the big obstacles in negotiations. Kouchner said: “The most important problem of Copenhagen -  apart from the huge problem of climate change -  how to fund, how to control, rebalance in a better way,  - the difficulties and the daily life and the huge difference between rich countries and poor countries”.

There are calls for big emitters to reduce their expectations of poorer countries, with a push for a new world agency to monitor commitments. If all goes according to plan, heads of state will gather in Copenhagen on December 18 and agree to a political deal that will plot the course for tackling climate change in the years to come. A deal, many here believe, is long overdue.