Two weeks of haggling at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, has produced a road map towards a new deal for controlling emissions. But nothing will be signed before 2015 or come into effect until 2020.
35 industrialised countries, excluding the US, Russia, China and Canada, also agreed to extend the existing treaty on climate change prevention, the Kyoto Protocol, beyond the end of next year. They will be obliged to submit quantified emission limitation or reduction objectives for review by 1st May 2012.
There was also some indication of support for developing nations in actions against climate change, including a Green Climate Fund, to start next year,
Energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne said: “This is a significant step forward in curbing emissions to tackle global climate change. For the first time we’ve seen major economies, normally cautious, commit to take the action demanded by the science. There are still many details to be hammered out, but we now need to start negotiating the new legal agreement as soon as possible.”
But Friends of the Earth described the results as too weak to prevent dangerous global warming, delaying action until after 2020 will fail to drive forward the low-carbon growth urgently needed to wean countries off fossil fuels, cut fuel bills and create jobs.
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