UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks during the opening of the World Climate Conference in Geneva on Thursday. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone/Associated Press)UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had more dire warnings about climate change Thursday as he spoke to a United Nations conference in Geneva.

He told officials from about 150 countries that time is running out for a new climate deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Only limited progress has been made to hammer out a new accord to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing the gases blamed for global warming.

Ban said if world leaders don't act immediately, sea levels could rise by up to two metres by the end of the century, threatening small island states, river deltas and low-lying coastal cities.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh told the 3rd World Climate Conference she's worried up to a third of her country could be inundated if the projection proves to be true.

"We will pay a high price if we do not act," Ban said during the second last day of the conference. "Climate change could spell widespread economic disaster."

2-day Arctic visit

His comments follow a two-day visit he made this week to Norway's Svalbard archipelago, 1,200 kilometers from the North Pole. He talked with scientists, who updated him on the rate of melting ice and disappearing glaciers.

Ban told the Geneva conference he was "alarmed" by what he saw.

"I saw the remains of a glacier that just a few years ago was a majestic mass of ice. It has collapsed. Very troubling," he said.

"The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth," Ban said. "It may be ice-free by 2030."

"Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss," he told officials.

The five-day Geneva conference is aimed at improving the collection and distribution of data on climate forecasting ahead of UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.

With files from The Associated Press