- 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.
