EU claims success at Montreal climate conference[fr] 

• Kyoto Protocol

Negotiations to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 were officially decided on the last day of the UN climate change conference in Montreal on 10 December. The talks, due to start in May 2006, will focus on future commitments for the 157 developed nations that have ratified the international accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The first week saw the adoption of the so-called Marrakech Accords, which provide the rulebook for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. The agreement has made Kyoto fully operational since it entered into force on in February 2005. 

A decision was also taken to streamline the Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism which allows developed countries to earn greenhouse gas reduction credits from investing in clean development projects in developing countries. 

Another Kyoto mechanism - Joint Implementation - was launched. This will be of particular interest to EU-15 nations as it allows developed countries to earn allowances from projects in other developed countries, "in particular central and eastern European transition economies."

• Talks launched under the UN convention

A last-minute agreement  was found to launch talks under the broader UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to which non-Kyoto signatories Australia and the United States are also parties. At the insistence of the US delegation, the decision states that the talks "will take the form of an open and non-binding exchange of views, information and ideas […] and will not open any negotiations leading to new commitments".

Under the UNFCCC, a five-year work programme was also agreed to advise vulnerable countries on how to adapt to the impacts of global warming that cannot be avoided.

"This has been one of the most productive UN Climate Change Conferences ever. This plan sets the course for future action on climate change," said Richard Kinley, acting head of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas hailed the outcome of the conference as "a watershed in the fight against climate change". Dimas said the agreement to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 will "reassure business that investment in clean technologies will remain worthwhile" and will give researchers "a sense that the demand for new low-carbon technologies will continue to rise". But he also added that "there is still a hard road in front of us and the harsh realities of coping with climate change."

A tipping point came on the last day when former US President Bill Clinton said that the Bush administration's stated view that fighting global warming would hurt the economy was "flat wrong". With serious efforts, Clinton said, "we could meet and surpass the Kyoto targets in a way that would strengthen, not weaken our economies." He later told a press conference that Europeans should not try to force Kyoto-style targets on Washington but instead look to promote specific projects to reduce emissions that would have similar effects.

Environmental group WWF welcomed the "real progress" that was made at the conference. The agreement to launch talks under the UNFCCC, said the WWF, has "opened the door to broader participation from developing countries in the future". "Kyoto Parties must now redouble their efforts to meet their targets, as with 157 countries now signed up to the Protocol, carbon markets are a reality".

"Australia and the US are isolated as never before, and the overwhelming presence of US state governments, cities, trade unions, businesses, churches, youth and many other parts of civil society gave the rest of the world confidence that Americans do care about climate change," said Greenpeace.