"Europe accounts for 15 percent of the world's CO2 emissions," Merkel said in a speech to parliament.

"If the United States do not participate, if we don't agree next year on a sensible international deal, then our efforts in Europe to lead the way will of course fail."

Her came part way through United Nations climate talks in Poland, where representatives from around the world were attempting to lay the groundwork for a new global climate pact to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The forum of the 192-member UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Poznan, which runs until December 12, comes halfway in a two-year process launched in Bali, Indonesia, one year ago.

Just as the Poznan talks wrap up, EU leaders were due to discuss at a summit on December 11-12 a separate pact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the 27-nation bloc.

The EU has fixed a triple climate objective for 2020: a 20-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels; bringing renewable energies up to 20 percent of the total; and an overall 20-percent cut in energy use.

But many EU members, including Germany, are keen to protect their national industries from the costs the targets would involve, and the economic crisis has complicated the chances of an agreement.

The package narrowly avoided falling apart in October. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi only withdrew their vetoes when some decisions were put off to this month's summit.

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