The goal of worldwide climate treaties is to protect, in the poetic language of this Sunday’s psalm, “the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it.” A deal reached last weekend at a U.N. climate change summit commits for the first time all the world’s largest economies to reduce emissions and slow global warming.

The agreement, which took four years to negotiate, should help to prevent deforestation, promote the transfer of low-carbon technologies to developing countries, and by 2020 establish a green fund potentially worth $100 billion a year to shield more vulnerable countries from climate change.

Governments failed to reach agreement on how far overall global emissions should be cut, and critics say there are many loopholes for countries to avoid making the deep reductions that many scientists say are needed.

Reaction to the accord was mixed. Researchers from the Climate Action Tracker said the pledges were not enough to avoid “catastrophic warming.” But, said, British energy secretary Chris Huhne, “This is way better than what we were expecting only a few weeks ago. This is a significant turning point. It clearly says that there should be reductions from developing countries. It takes us forward to a legally binding overall outcome.”

"[The] Cancun [summit] may have saved the process [of negotiations] but it did not yet save the climate," said Greenpeace International Climate Policy Director Wendel Trio. Oxfam’s Jeremy Hobbs said: "With lives on the line, we must now build on this progress. Long-term funding must be secured to help vulnerable countries protect themselves."

Source: Articles by John Vidal and Suzanne Goldenberg for guardian.co.uk