Durban Climate talks pushed into extra time

China, India, Africa and the EU were at loggerheads on Friday night, pushing UN climate talks into extra time on Saturday as 194 countries attempted to reach a global deal to prevent dangerous global warming.

China, India, Africa and the EU were at loggerheads on Friday night, pushing UN climate talks into extra time on Saturday as 194 countries attempted to reach a global deal to prevent dangerous global warming.

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There were signs of movement on all sides, according to people in the talks in Durban, with compromises possible but no final breakthrough. Some long-standing rifts between the developing and developed countries, and between the EU and the US, appeared bridged.

A new text was introduced at midnight and went some way to easing the fears of developing countries that rich countries could wriggle out of their obligations.

Governments are wrangling over future agreements on global warming.

Also at stake in Durban was the future of the Kyoto protocol, the only existing legal treaty forcing rich countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. If the talks collapse, the protocol will be in effect dead after its current provisions expire in 2012.

The Guardian