UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to reach an accord on the dangers of climate change in order to 'avoid catastrophic consequences.'

Speaking at a meeting on the Caribbean island of Trinidad Tobago along with Danish Premier Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the UN Chief urged heads-of-state from across the globe to quickly seal a deal in the upcoming climate summit.

"Our common goal is to achieve a firm foundation for a legally binding climate treaty as early as possible in 2010," said Ban, adding, "An agreement is within reach... We must seal a deal in Copenhagen."

He had warned 85 world leaders attending the Copenhagen Conference in 2009 of the atmosphere's greenhouse gas accumulation and referred to the globe's "multiple crises" of 'food, diseases, energy, finance and climate' which have hit the world simultaneously and will continue to trouble human beings 'for generations.'

Denmark is hosting the December 7-18 climate change convention. The Danish prime minister urged the attendees to donate enough so that practicality could be achieved at the conference. "The need for money on the table - that is what we want to achieve in Copenhagen."

Environmentalists and a number of EU leaders have called for an 'aggressive' plan to tackle the growing problem of CO2 emissions worldwide and called on the developed nations to contribute more in order to cope with the looming threat.

Developed countries like the United States, the world's largest polluter, pledged even smaller cuts in CO2 emissions at the last climate summit.

Scientists have warned of growing threats caused by climate change, asking industrialized states to cut their CO2 emissions by at least 40 percent by 2025 in order to help curb problems in the atmosphere.

GHN/TG/JG