"The G8 anti-crisis plans should be coloured green," Stefania Prestigiacomo said after three days of talks with her counterparts in the club of rich nations and eight emerging economies.

The delegates spelled out "frankly and clearly" the issues on which G8 heads of state and government should "devote their leadership capacities" at their July summit, she said.

These include improving energy efficiency, developing renewal energy, sustainable agriculture and transportation and building and protecting ecological infrastructure, a top UN delegate said earlier.

The three days of talks in Sicily, buoyed by a sea change in US environmental policy, have found new momentum towards a landmark deal to fight global warming at the end of the year.

The meeting is among several forums on the way to UN talks in Copenhagen in December aimed at sealing an international pact for curbing greenhouse gases beyond 2012.

Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme, said the world financial crisis not only presented an opportunity to overhaul the planet's energy profile but also to create millions of jobs.

But while encouraged that there had been "less finger-pointing and more reflection" on the fight against global warming at the talks here, he said he was leaving Syracuse "very much concerned that there is no clear pathway to resolving the gaps that remain."

The main stumbling blocks are setting targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and financing for the greening of developing countries, he said.

Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc said "great mistrust" remained between North and South, both sides agreed that they could make "substantial compromises" appropriate to their means and situations.

Since the talks here were not required to produce decisions, "they allowed for constructive exchanges between the G8 countries and the others," Minc told reporters.

"Realism has set in in discussions among key nations in the lead-up to Copenhagen, the realisation that time is running out," Steiner said.

"The conversation is beginning to focus on how partnerships can help each side help the other," he said.

"Developed countries and emerging economies have already signalled they are willing to accelerate efforts conditional on a fair deal in Copenhagen," Steiner said.

"If (stimulus) money is spent to prolong the status quo and is not invested in tomorrow's economy, we will lose a major opportunity to deal with climate change as well as the possibility of creating a low-carbon economy," he said.

Some 2.2 million people are already employed in renewable energy, the same number working in the oil and gas sector, a UNEP expert told the news conference.

"You will potentially see an explosion of 15 to 20 million jobs in the coming years," he added, noting that renewable energy sources account for only 1.2 percent of the global electricity supply.

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