Newspapers widely branded the accord a failure and experts such as the head of a Nobel Peace prize-winning climate panel said "urgent" action was now needed.

US President Barack Obama acknowledged that all of the world's polluters would quickly have to do more, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the critics would only hold up the battle against rising temperatures that threaten devastating floods, storms and drought.

Obama returned to the White House and said "extremely difficult and complex negotiations" had been needed in Copenhagen.

"This breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come."

But even the US leader said "we will have to build on the momentum" and get the US Congress to pass mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Merkel hit back at critics saying Copenhagen was "a first step toward a new world climate order, nothing more but also nothing less," she told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"Those who are only putting Copenhagen down are helping those who want to blockade rather than move forward."

Germany will host a follow-up meeting of environment ministers in Bonn in June, ahead of another summit in Mexico City next December.

The Danish chair of the UN climate summit, Connie Hedegaard, said Sunday she thought it would be difficult to gather together so many world leaders again for a new conference, though the effort must be made.

The Copenhagen Accord, only passed by a procedural motion after two weeks of tense negotiations, has been widely condemned as a backdoor deal that excludes the poor and dooms the world to disastrous climate change.

The agreement was assembled by the leaders of the United States, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and major European nations, after it became clear the 194-nation summit was in danger of failure.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said the agreement reached in Copenhagen was "better than nothing" and "not a bad result."

China, the world's top polluter, has given the warmest welcome to a summit that experts say it has benefited from by making the fewest concessions.

"With the efforts of all parties, the summit yielded significant and positive results," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in a statement.

The summit set a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 that are the key to holding down temperatures.

It also promised 100 billion dollars for poor nations that risk bearing the brunt of the global warming fallout, but has not given a fixed payout plan.

So far, the United States has promised to contribute 3.6 billion dollars in climate funds for the 2010-2012 period, with Japan contributing a total of 11 billion dollars, and the European Union 10.6 billion dollars.

However, the Council of Europe criticised the Copenhagen accord as a "missed opportunity" for failing to take "concrete decisions", which threatens food security and access to water or land for people who could "swell the ranks of climate refugees," said Lluis Maria de Puig, head of the Council's parliamentary assembly.

Even UN chief General Ban Ki-moon admitted the agreement had failed to win global consensus and would disappoint many who demanded stronger action against climate change.

"Many will say that it lacks ambition," Ban told the end of the summit. "Nonetheless, you have achieved much."

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said: "Developing countries, certainly Africa, are very concerned and very suspicious of the developed countries on whether they are really genuine in making these offers."

New research published Sunday suggested that carbon dioxide may be having more of an effect on global temperatures than previously thought.

The study, focussing on a period three to five million years ago, said that calculations for man-made global warming may be underestimated by between 30 and 50 percent.

"Since there is no indication that the future will behave differently than the past, we should expect a couple of degrees of continued warming even if we held CO2 concentrations at the current level," said the paper's lead author, Mark Pagani.

earlier related report
China 'positive' on Copenhagen summit
Beijing (AFP) Dec 20, 2009 - China on Sunday welcomed the outcome of climate change talks in Copenhagen, the day after a deal reached to fight global warming came in for heavy criticism.

"With the efforts of all parties, the summit yielded significant and positive results," foreign minister Yang Jiechi was quoted as saying in a statement on the foreign ministry website.

The Copenhagen Accord, passed Saturday after two weeks of frantic negotiations, was strongly condemned as a backdoor deal that violated UN democracy, excluded the poor and doomed the world to disastrous climate change.

The agreement was assembled at the last minute by a small group consisting of leaders of the United States, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and major European nations, after it became clear the summit was in danger of failure.

It set a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important stepping stones -- global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 -- for getting there.

Nor did it identify a year by which emissions should peak, and pledges were made voluntary and free from tough compliance provisions.

Yang, who never specifically mentioned the accord, said the summit had successfully maintained the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility," which recognises differing economic circumstances between emerging and rich nations.

China, the world's biggest carbon polluter, has always said rich countries should take the lead in committing to substantial emission reduction targets and provide finance to developing countries battling climate change.

The Copenhagen Accord set a goal of "jointly mobilising" 100 billion dollars for developing nations by 2020.

Yang added that the summit made a step forward with regards to developed countries' mandatory emissions cuts and developing nations' voluntary mitigation actions.

"Third, it reached broad consensus on the key issues of long-term global targets, funding, technology support (to developing countries), and transparency," Yang said, according to the statement.

China has pledged to reduce carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 based on 2005 levels.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News