A day after the U.N.'s recent international climate negotiations were supposed to conclude, delegates reached agreement on a deal that keeps alive hope for a more substantial treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocal.
After two weeks of disheartening backtracking and arguments over climate injustice, delegates in Warsaw were able to come to agreement on what the AP calls a "modest deal".
"Delegates agreed to the broad outlines of a proposed system for pledging emissions cuts and gave their support for a new treaty mechanism to tackle the human cost of rising seas, floods, stronger storms and other expected effects of global warming," reports David Jolly. "The measures added momentum to the talks as United Nations members look toward a 2015 conference in Paris to replace the moribund Kyoto Protocol."
“I think this is what they needed to move the ball forward,” said Jennifer Morgan, director of the climate and energy program at the World Resources Institute, “even if you can’t say that it provided a lot of new ambition.”
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