The minister in charge of international climate change negotiations, Tim Groser, is warning there is unlikely to be a treaty ready to replace the Kyoto Protocol this year.
The protocol ends in 2012 and a major climate meeting is planned in Copenhagen in December to decide what will take its place.
Mr Groser, who has been at a preliminary meeting in Greenland, says progress so far has been too slow to produce a ratifiable treaty from the Copenhagen meeting though points needing further negotiation might emerge.
Mr Groser says there are still difficulties over how to bring developing nations on board and how to finance their involvement.
