"I don't discount targets, I don't discount voluntary partnership measures," James Connaughton told BBC radio during a visit to London ahead of a major UN environmental conference in Montreal that opens next Monday.

"We need a full portfolio of these measures in order to make progress."

Connaughton said his view reflected a shift by other members of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations, rather than a U-turn by the United States which never adopted the Kyoto protocol on limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has used his presidency of the G8 this year to press for an inclusive approach to tackling climate change as Kyoto nears its expiration in 2012.

Connaughton said Blair's approach was "actually much more consequential and practical than many of the more abstract discussions that will occur in Montreal".

"That agenda links our very real needs of dealing with energy security, of dealing with harmful air pollution that affects public health today with the longer-term challenge of reducing greenhouse gases," he said.

"That is a much more powerful platform for greater participation."

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