A good, comprehensive analysis of the outcome of the Mexico U.N. climate conference appeared in the New York Times on Dec. 13 written by Lisa Friedman of ClimateWire.
In apprasing the "Cancun Agreements," she writes, "Ministers and activists alike said the agreements restored much-needed confidence in the multilateral system and laid the groundwork for serious technology developments to help poorer countries deploy low-carbon energy. For the first time in an official U.N. agreement, countries agreed to keep temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and acknowledged that the emission cut pledges America, China and others made in Copenhagen should be just a beginning."
The next worldwide conference on climate change will take place next year in Durban, South Africa. South Africa's Minister for Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, told ClimateWire that while much work needs to be done between now and the Durban conference, she said the "building blocks are now on the table" for ever-stronger climate agreements.
"The bar has been raised, and we have to work hard to deliver," Molewa said. "We are very optimistic. This process must never, ever go down again. The bar must keep going up and up and up."
There are links at the end of the article giving access to pdfs of the actual Cancun Agreements.
