Germany may delay some proposed cuts in solar incentives, granting a longer-than-expected grace period to players in the world's biggest solar market, according to a draft law obtained by Reuters on Monday.

Cuts in so called feed-in tariffs -- prices utilities are obliged to pay to generators of renewable energy -- for open-field sites are to be delayed by three months to October 1, the draft states.

AMSTERDAM – Special U.N. climate envoy Gro Harlem Brundtland says she expects talks on a new climate change agreement to increasingly move outside formal U.N. negotiations.

Brundtland says backstage discussions among the U.S., China, India, Brazil and South Africa, will play a critical role leading up to the next major U.N. climate conference in Mexico at the end of this year.

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia's top science body said on Monday temperatures had risen about 0.7 degrees Celsius (0.44 Fahrenheit) in the last 50 years, describing the finding as "significant evidence" of climate change.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) head Megan Clark said warming had occurred across the country and during all seasons, with the last decade the hottest on record.

"We are seeing significant evidence of a changing climate," she told ABC public radio.