Kyoto Protocol buried, new deal on emission cuts emerges

Leaders at the global climate talks decided to give the Kyoto Protocol a go by and instead entered into a new deal that gives developed countries the freedom to choose levels of emission cuts on their own.

The draft plan approved at the global climate conference at Cancun, Mexico, includes some modest steps to combat climate change as also the setting up of a new fund to help poor nations.

The two weeks of talks ended with India and some other emerging nations such as Mexico and Brazil making a climb-down from their earlier positions and agreeing to abide by binding emission cuts on a universal basis.

While India and China have long refused calls for binding action, saying that rich nations had a greater responsibility for carbon emissions, India now says that all countries must take binding commitments under an appropriate legal framework.

While offering a shift in India's stated position, environment minister Jairam Ramesh, however, said India would wait to see the shape of a future agreement "because we don't know the content."

China, however, repeated that it was opposed to a binding treaty. It also said there should be flexibility in the Cancun talks, including on outside monitoring of a country's climate actions.