As a United Nations conference on climate change ended here, business representatives applauded signs that governments are now emphasizing the role technology must play in finding solutions.

But the conference - the latest round of negotiations on curbing greenhouse gas emissions - produced no progress on how governments should attain that objective.

Juhani Santaholma, Executive Director of the Finnish Energy Association, speaking on behalf of the International Chamber of Commerce, said: "Business and industry are anxiously awaiting the views of governments on how they are going to overcome their differences."

Business has for years been insisting that innovative technologies provide the most effective economic solution to long-term risk to the climate through global warming. Nick Campbell, Chairman of ICC's working party on climate change, said: "It is evident today that the widespread use of existing, efficient technology is indispensable, and that a wide range of technologies will be needed."

On another positive note, in the view of business observers, the Milan conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was the first time government delegates consulted business directly on ways to improve frameworks to support technology transfer.

Norine Kennedy, of the United States Council for International Business, commented: "Global solutions to climate change will only work if they support improved access to energy, poverty eradication, successful entrepreneurship and investment in developing countries."

Representatives of ENI, the World Energy Council, ABB, Framatome and others described successful projects in developing countries and recommended broader emphasis on governance, finance, trade, investment, and capacity building to further the development and dissemination of technology.

Business commentators regretted negotiators' decision to limit the potential of the so-called Kyoto mechanisms - agreed in 1997 - which include emissions trading to enable countries to reach their targets for reducing them.

Another is the clean development mechanism (CDM), where developed countries can earn credits to offset against their targets by funding clean technologies, such as solar power, in poorer countries.

ICC said that constraints to the CDM would be counter-productive, undermining its potential to contribute to cost-effective compliance and limiting opportunities for developing countries to benefit from project-based investments.