WARSAW: In a last ditch effort to save the climate talks from being collapsed, head of delegation of key countries on Friday stepped up their behind the scene parleys to commit something on financial assistance front so that the goal to Paris for final deal two years from now remains within reach.

It is likely that the Conference of Parties (COP) on climate change - which was scheduled to be concluded on Friday itself - may face the marathon ministerial round, leading the floor to remain open till Saturday morning.

Indian side has already made it clear that New Delhi won't compromise on its existing position when the final draft of the talks comes for approval on Friday night.

Indian environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan may question the approach of the developed countries more emphatically through her intervention during the marathon round if the rich nations won't give a definite timeline to fulfil their promise.

She had made her intent clear during her formal speech a day before when she said the non-capitalization of Green Climate Fund (GCF) was a matter of serious concern and it threatened the "credibility of the global negotiation process".

Delegates of different countries, who have been part of various negotiations, told the TOI that the US stand continues to be quite rigid on setting up a mechanism for loss and damage and giving any definite timeline to begin capitalisation for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) - a 100 billion US dollars annual kitty that is to be filled by rich nations - which is meant for adaptation and reduction of emission by poor countries to fight the menace of climate change.

Natarajan had said, "Till now, no road map has been agreed to by developed countries to mobilize 100 billion US dollars annually by 2020 as agreed in Cancun".

Amid all round criticism for blocking the crucial matter of finance, US is, however, likely to move a bit so that the climate talks should not be termed as a failure on key issue.

US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern, while addressing a press conference on Friday, gave such hint and said that the capitalization to the Fund would start by an year from now.

Though he refused to give any definite timeline or budge on setting up a 'loss and damage' mechanism, it is learnt that he is holding many behind the scene meetings with representatives of EU member countries and other rich nations to bring clarity on GCF.

Loss and Damage is a mechanism where poorest and most vulnerable nations want financial assistance on the premise that they had to suffer losses due to the damage caused by high emissions of greenhouse gases by rich countries over the years during industrialization period.

As the final round is about the begin, the differences between rich and poor nations remain unaddressed. While US-led rich nations want to talk only about their contribution post-2020, developing countries want them to focus on pre-2020.

US insistence on making developing countries too pay for the GCF has also become a major irritant. Certainly, developing countries will not agree to any such formulation which dilutes the line between rich and poor nations in terms of accountability and future responsibility.