Climate deal delays new concerted effort on greenhouse gases

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/12/climate-deal-greenhouse-gases.html

Negotiators at a climate change meeting in South Africa struck an 11th-hour deal to avoid the collapse of international negotiations over global warming, averting the worst fears of environmental advocates but doing little to immediately advance the cause of limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

The agreement in effect would postpone new concerted global action on climate change for at least eight years. However, given the political realities, particularly in the United States and China, the accord probably offered the best chance to move the process forward, analysts said.

Under the deal, nations committed themselves to talks aimed at reaching a legally binding agreement by 2015 that would limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming. The limits would not go into effect until 2020 at the earliest.

Most countries have agreed to voluntary emission-reduction goals that scientists and environmentalists consider too modest. Without significant cuts in greenhouse gases, the world would be on course for a jump in global temperature of about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit, which would profoundly disturb water, weather and agriculture almost everywhere, according to widely accepted climate models.