LONDON,  (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Gordon  Brown yesterday urged world leaders to intervene personally to  break deadlocked talks to agree a global climate change deal in  December.

Brown is one of the few major economy leaders who has  announced plans to attend the U.N.-led Dec 7-18 conference in  Copenhagen.

The meeting is intended for environment ministers, and meant  to sign a new deal to extend or replace the existing Kyoto  Protocol after 2012.

“I believe that leaders must engage directly to break the  impasse,” Brown told energy and environment ministers and  representatives of 17 of the world’s main polluting nations,  gathered in London.

“I urge my fellow leaders to work together to reach  agreement amongst us.”

Many analysts and lawmakers doubt the world can agree a deal  in December, arguing the deadline is too tight given a lack of  progress on issues including emissions reduction targets.

“I believe agreement at Copenhagen is possible,” Brown said.  “But we must frankly face the plain fact that our negotiators  are not getting to agreement quickly enough.”

The two-year U.N. talks launched in Bali, Indonesia in 2007  are split on how big carbon cuts rich nations should make by  2020, and how much they should pay developing countries to  prepare for and slow global warming.