The two-day Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate kicks off on September 20 and will include top government envoys, including US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern.

US President Barack Obama launched the meetings to facilitate climate talks in the wake of last year's disappointing United Nations conference in Copenhagen.

The successor conference to the Copenhagen meet is set for this November in Cancun, Mexico. "I don't think anyone is expecting any major announcement," said Michael Levi, an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations.

Levi said the envoys would not seek to resolve the fierce debate over climate change but rather find ways to better define the issues, acknowledging the Cancun meeting would likely be another stalemate.

Environmentalist Bill Mekibben, co-founder of the environmental group 350.org, said the US Congress's failure to pass a law to combat climate change made it "very difficult" to clinch a strong agreement in Cancun.

AFP