South Africa blasts Copenhagen failure

South Africa says Copenhagen's failure to produce a legally binding climate change agreement is unacceptable.

South Africa says Copenhagen's failure to produce a legally binding climate change agreement is unacceptable.

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In their first media briefing since returning from talks in the Danish capital that ended on Saturday, South Africa's environment minister Buyelwa Sonjica and her top climate change negotiators said on Tuesday the way the host handled the negotiations contributed to the poor outcome.

Copenhagen produced only a compromise calling for reducing emissions to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 C (3.6 F) above preindustrial levels. The nonbinding agreement also calls on rich nations to spend billions to help poor nations deal with drought and other impacts of climate change, and to develop clean energy.