Climate Deal Struck After Marathon Talks; India's Concerns Met
The final draft is said to have alleviated those concerns by saying countries have "common but differentiated responsibilities".
There was a great sense of relief among delegates when the announcement came in the early hours of Sunday morning, as the 12-day meeting had already overrun by two days.
But environmental groups criticised the deal as a weak and ineffectual compromise, saying it weakens international climate rules.
The talks proved difficult because of divisions between rich and poor countries over how to spread the burden of pledges to cut carbon emissions.
The draft mentioned only that all pledges would be reviewed a month ahead of December 2015 Paris summit to assess their combined effect on climate change.
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres told reporters that the approved text is a sign of progression on closing the gaps between three key elements: science, policy response and action.
Figueres also praised the new pledges to the Green Climate Fund, set up to assist developing countries deal with the effects of climate change, to approximately USD 10 billion. "We must...we can...and we will address climate change," she said.
Earlier, Pulgar-Vidal, who had spent entire day meeting separately with delegations, presented the new draft just before midnight, saying "as a text it's not perfect, but it includes the positions of the parties."
The negotiators were given an hour to review the revised draft text. The revised draft has added a line in the preamble regarding "loss and damages" provisions which many small island developing states had requested.
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