INTERVIEW-Australia carbon [scam] plan vital before Copenhagen-UN panel

NEW DELHI, May 4 - Australia needs to declare its commitment to cut carbon emissions before the Copenhagen summit in December or risk weakening the outcome of global climate talks, the head of the U.N. climate panel said on Monday.

Australia announced a one-year delay an major changes to its carbon trading plans on Monday, citing the global economic recession for the need to delay the start date until July 2011 but the country may raise its target for cutting emissions.

"If you have even one or two developed countries not showing adequate commitment in this business, that would rub off on the others," R.K. Pachauri chairman of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change told Reuters in a telephone interview.