"It's goal is to be supportive for the secretary-general inhis work to increase the likelihood of a deal in Copenhagen andalso then afterwards the execution of the deal," LarsJosefsson, the chief executive of Swedish power utilityVattenfall, told Reuters after the inaugural meeting of thegroup in New York on Wednesday.
Rich and poor nations remain in a deadlock on how to cutemissions. Nearly 200 nations will try to hammer out asuccessor pact to the U.N. Kyoto Protocol on global warming ata meeting at the end of the year in Denmark.
Poor countries want the rich to commit to deeper cuts ingreenhouse gas emissions because they have historically emittedmost of the planet-warming gases. China and many otherdeveloping countries want the rich to cut by at least 40percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Offers made by richcountries so far work out to cuts of between 8 and 14 percentbelow 1990.
Josefsson said Ban's group aims to meet every two monthsand to continue coming together after Copenhagen.
The group also includes Zhenrong Shi, chief executive ofChinese solar panel maker Suntech Holdings Co Ltd and LeenaSrivastava, the executive director of The Energy and ResourcesInstitute, an Indian nonprofit. Tata is the chairman of TataMotors. Billionaire Slim controls Telemex.