Kyoto, which was rejected by the United States, commits three dozen industrialized countries to cut their greenhouse gases an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels between next year and 2012, when it expires.

U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer told reporters discussions over a post-Kyoto agreement were going well and that "the mood is good."

But he acknowledged efforts to persuade developing nations to embrace binding reduction targets were nearly dead. China, along with India, Brazil and other developing countries, have argued that industrialized countries should take the lead cutting emissions since they are responsible for the bulk of them.

"Nothing has been ruled out," de Boer said. "Binding commitments from developing countries is not off the table, but is crawling toward the edge."

On Germanwatch's climate index, Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, was the biggest "climate sinner" for the second year in a row, Saudi Arabia, because it has no policies to address its growing emissions.

It has a long history of playing an obstructionist role at climate change conferences, and activists say it has suggested it would not sign onto any future agreement unless it is guaranteed compensation for the loss of revenue it expects when economies shift away from oil to cleaner energies.

A Saudi Arabian official could be immediately reached for comment.

Saudia Arabia was followed by the United States, the only major industrialized country not to have signed Kyoto. The U.S. delegation declined to comment on the report.

Australia's new government did an about-face earlier this week and agreed to ratify the protocol.

Though Canberra ranked third on the list of offenders Friday, it could drop to 20th if Prime Minister Kevin Rudd follows through with promises to reduce emissions. That would put it near Finland.

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