RPT-ANALYSIS-Credit crisis a threat to Obama's carbon plans

(Refiles to fix link in cross-reference) (For related factbox, click on [ID:nN05296436])

By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia

SINGAPORE, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's credentials may be green, but gathering financial gloom means fixing the economy will take priority on his agenda before dealing with national carbon trading and clean-energy investment.

Analysts and carbon brokers believe Obama's support for an emissions cap-and-trade scheme and plans to create millions of "green" industry jobs send exactly the right signal for carbon trading and the burgeoning renewable energy industry.

But don't expect miracles overnight, they said. Depleted government coffers, rising unemployment and plunging profits across most industries could prevent him from making sweeping changes in his crucial first year.

"We're guessing until he goes and checks his bank account and finds out how much in debt he is," said Michael Hopkins, energy derivatives manager at TFS Energy Asia-Pacific, referring to the hundreds of billions of dollars pledged by the Bush administration to stabilize the financial markets.

Pushing through a national emissions trading scheme won't be the top item on Obama's hit-list, Hopkins said in Singapore.

"I think he has other issues to deal with before tackling the environmental side of it," he added.

Obama wants to cut carbon dioxide emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and require fuel suppliers to cut carbon content of their fuel by 10 percent by 2020.