Delegates at the UN climate talks in Doha have managed to extend the Kyoto protocol until 2020, as well as promise compensation to developing countries for climate effects.

In a historic shift in principle, the summit established that developed nations should compensate developing countries for the effects of climate change.

The agreement, signed by nearly 200 countries, also extends the only legally-binding treaty for cutting carbon emissions -- the Kyoto protocol -- to 2020, but only for Europe, Australia, and a handful of other developed countries. Their emissions count for less than 15 percent of the global total.

Some progress was made towards a new global climate agreement, which is due to be agreed by 2015 and in place by 2020. The final text of the agreement "encouraged" richer countries to commit £6 billion per year up to 2020.

But developing countries hailed the agreement, which for the first time uses the phrase "loss and damage from climate change" in an international legal document. But the pledge stopped short of any admission of liability, for fear of legal action from developing countries.

The talks were nearly derailed at the last minute by a coalition of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, who argued that they should be allowed extra refit for emissions cuts made when their industries collapsed. But the chairman lost patience, restarted the meeting, and moved through the agenda so fast that Russia had no chance to object.

The result was a cheer, and prolonged applause at the successful completion of a deal that no-one liked, but everyone could live with. The real test will come in the years leading up to 2015, when the sisyphean task of negotiating the next legal emissions cuts will begin.


  1. After 26 years of research your choices are:
    A: Millions in the world of science are all lying?
    B: Millions in the world of science are just exaggerating for self-interest?
    C: Millions in the world of science have never said it "WILL" happen, only could happen?
    D: Millions in the world of science believe a little unstoppable warming is possible?
    E: Millions in the world of science believe the entire planet could die in a CO2 crisis (aka comet hit).
    F: Millions in the world of science are to be trusted for whatever they offer us, except their pesticides.
    E: I don't care, its' about WHO is saying WHAT not what is being said.
    But the people have spoken:
    *Occupywallstreet does not even mention CO2 in its list of demands because of the bank-funded carbon trading stock markets ruled by corporations and trustworthy politicians
    *Canada killed Y2Kyoto with a freely elected climate change denying prime minister and nobody cared, especially the millions of scientists warning us of unstoppable warming (a comet hit).ding stock markets run by corporations.
    *In all of the debates Obama hadn't planned to mention climate change once.
    Meanwhile, the entire world of SCIENCE, lazy copy and paste news editors and obedient journalists, had condemned our kids to the greenhouse gas ovens of an exaggerated "crisis" and had allowed bank-funded and corporate-run "CARBON TRADING STOCK MARKETS" to trump 3rd world fresh water relief, starvation rescue and 3rd world education for just over 26 years of insane attempts at climate CONTROL.
    Help my house could be on fire maybe?
    Find us one single IPCC warning that isn't peppered in "could bes" and "might bes".

    Al Bore
    Dec 9th 2012
  2. Why compensate countries which are and still will be uneconomically viable.So-called economic development has kept these peoples in poverty since about 1965.This in itself should be reason enough not to interfere further in these countries.International aid has been to easily available for people of many of these countries to rely on,instead of making a go of it themselves.Thankfully the Chinese have taken the opportunity to help develop many nations especially in Africa to stand on their own two feet,and without the need to grow anything.  

    Dec 13th 2012

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