Climate change deal 'not enough'

Kyoto has been salvaged - without the US

The relief was palpable as the Bonn conference reached agreement on the Kyoto protocol on cutting greenhouse gasses.

Ministers from 178 countries managed to salvage the ailing accord on climate change after 48 hours of complex argument in Germany.

But there was no support from the United States. President Bush's decision to pull out of Kyoto four months ago, looked like delivering a death blow to the accord.

The Japanese ensured some clauses in the agreement about the compliance regime were changed

But the deal was reached at a cost. The Japanese - who had balked at the wording of some clauses designed to ensure that countries comply with the protocol - gained an important delay on the penalties facing countries who miss their targets.

The original Kyoto protocol of 1997 required industrialised countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2% below their 1990 levels over the next eleven years.

According to conservationists, what's been agreed in Bonn today means that the 5.2% figure will be reduced to about 2%.

The compromise

The deal centres on four areas:

• First - It recognises that poorer countries need adequate and predictable sources of cash to pay for clean technologies.

• Second - Governments must put tough reporting and verification systems in place before they can begin trading carbon emissions with countries which pollute less.

• Third - Countries with large areas of forest can use what's known as their tree and plantation "sinks" to offset the emission of greenhouse gasses.

• Fourth - Countries that fail to keep to their greenhouse gas reduction targets will be punished. But, and this is a concession to the Japanese, there is to be more discussion on when these penalties will begin.