Key issues which will be under discussion at COP15 will include: The baseline year that specified reduction targets and also the duration of the second commitment period. The proposed greenhouse gas reduction targets for both the second commitment period and more years.

Whether to include greenhouse gases in the agreement that are excluded at present from the Kyoto Protocol.

Whether to include Greenhouse gas emissions in a new agreement from the international maritime industry and Greenhouse gas emissions from the international aviation industry. These are currently not part of the Kyoto Protocol.

Whether to tighten the rules governing the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to ensure the environmental integrity and avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions or whether to relax them.

Whether to include the as yet unproved Carbon Capture and Storage technology in the CDM that is being promoted as a way of allowing coal-fired power stations to keep the operation on and new ones to be built.

Whether to include measures to curb the rate of deforestation in the agreement, that especially talk of tropical rainforests in developing countries - otherwise known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD).