Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told AFP on the sidelines of a conference in Beijing the two Asian giants would have "a lot of moral force" at the global talks in Denmark.

"China and India can play that kind of role," Pachauri said in an interview.

"(They can) take a few steps beyond what the developed world expects them to do and then they can point the finger at developed countries and tell them, 'Look, in comparison, we are much poorer than you, yet we are taking all these actions so why don't you do what is expected of you'."

The high-stakes conference in the Danish capital from December 7-18 will see nations attempt to hammer out a new treaty on combating global warming to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

China and India, among the world's biggest polluters, last week signed a five-year agreement to cooperate on climate change leading up to the summit.

They have so far taken a united stand on rejecting binding emissions cuts, arguing that carbon caps will hinder their quest for economic development and poverty alleviation.

Chinese President Hu Jintao told the United Nations last month that Beijing would reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by a "notable margin" by 2020 from their 2005 levels, but did not provide a figure.

Carbon intensity is the measure of greenhouse gas that is emitted per unit of economic activity.

India has said it was ready to set non-binding targets for cutting carbon emissions in a bit to shed its image as an intransigent polluter.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.