DOHA/FRANKFURT — German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier Sunday hailed a new set of agreements combatting climate change, a day after a UN conference passed the package following a fractious and lengthy debate. The deal “opens the door to a future of global climate protection,” Altmaier said in a statement, even as others argued the agreement was short on substance. “Starting next year, we will discuss within the EU but also at the international level how to better protect the climate. The result reached in Doha provides a good basis for it,” he added. After 12 days of tough haggling in Doha, the conference passed the package, which extended until 2020 the life of the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding pact on curbing Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions. But critics pointed to its water-downed form, as the protocol locks in only developed nations, excluding major developing polluters such as China and India, as well as the United States which refuses to ratify it. The European Union and the 10 other developed countries that signed up for the extension are jointly responsible for about 15 percent of the world's emissions. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon believes a new deal on fighting global warming is only a first step and that governments must do “far more” to stop rising temperatures, his spokesman said Saturday. Ban welcomes the package of agreements made in Qatar's capital Doha to combat climate change and extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol, which should lead the way to “a comprehensive, legally binding agreement by 2015,” said spokesman Martin Nesirky. But the secretary general “believes that far more needs to be done and he calls on governments, along with businesses, civil society and citizens, to accelerate action on the ground so that the global temperature rise can be limited to two degrees Celsius.” Ban “will increase his personal involvement in efforts to raise ambition, scale-up climate financing, and engage world leaders as we now move towards the global agreement in 2015,” Nesirky added. The Kyoto Protocol – the only binding pact on curbing Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions – expires on Dec. 31 and the Doha deal was concluded Saturday after 12 days of tough talks with Russia opposed to extending the pact, diplomats said. The Kyoto extension was approved with the 27-member European Union, Australia, Switzerland and eight other industrialized nations signing up for binding emissions cuts by 2020. The talks, scheduled to have closed Friday, ran a whole day into extra time, paralyzed as rich and poor nations faced off on issues including finance and compensation for climate damage. The developing nations will push next year for a radical UN mechanism to compensate them for the impact of climate change, such as droughts or rising sea levels, despite reluctance among wealthy states which would have to foot the bill. A meeting of almost 200 countries in Qatar in the past week agreed steps towards addressing losses and damage from global warming in what some analysts called a big shift for the United Nations-led talks. Developed nations fear such a system could be hugely costly for Western governments, most of which are struggling now to cut huge budget deficits. The United States insists any money would have to come from $100 billion in aid already promised from 2020 to help poor countries cope with global warming, delegates said. — Agencies
