Ban will be in Poznan for two days from December 10 before heading to Geneva, where he will participate in a large ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, spokeswoman Michele Montas said.

Some 9,000 delegates from 185 countries are gathering in Poznan from Monday through Friday for the 14th UN conference on climate change. They hope to set the groundwork for a new global climate pact to be signed in late 2009 in Copenhagen.

As part of the roadmap, a two-year process launched in Bali in December 2007, the 192-member United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will make new engagements by December 2009 to tackle global warming beyond the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The European Union has set itself a 2020 objective to lead the way on climate change, which includes cutting greenhouse gases 20 percent from 1990 levels, lowering energy use by 20 percent and generating 20 percent of its energy needs with renewable sources like solar and wind power.

But protectionist tendencies amongst many EU members and the global financial crisis threaten the package, which the EU is expected to adopt at its December 11-12 summit in Brussels.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the EU's efforts would fail without the participation of the United States.

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