Negotiations to develop a credible successor to the Kyoto agreement are making good progress and are on track to deliver an agreement before the end of 2009, according to the head of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Speaking at the weekend at an annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Madrid, IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri said that if the current talks keep up their momentum an agreement will be reached at the final round of talks in Copenhagen late next year.

According to Reuters' reports, Pachauri told delegates at the conference that he was confident an agreement would be reached "that is not too full of compromises".

Despite agreeing a timetable for negotiations at last year's UN conference in Bali, many governments have continued to express opposition to a post-Kyoto agreement containing binding emission cuts. Most notably the US has refused to countenance emission-reduction targets unless demanding goals are also imposed upon developing economies such as India and China, while last month a senior Russian official said the country would not accept stringent emission goals.

However, Pachauri said growing public awareness of global warming meant that it would be extremely difficult for any politician to refuse to sign up to a global deal.

"There is a question of national prestige involved," said Pachauri, hinting that any country tempted to reject a post-Kyoto deal would do huge damage to its international standing.

The next round of UN talks are now scheduled for Germany in June, where negotiators are to discuss the most effective means of accelerating the adoption of clean technologies in developing economies.