Delegates from nearly 190 countries agreed Wednesday on a series of goals to be included in a global warming treaty, but the U.N. conference failed to make a real commitment to reduce the amount of carbon emissions, reported the Associated Press. Yvo de Boer, the top U.N. climate official, said the delegates had adopted a work plan to reach their goals over the next 12 months even though the statement re-affirmed similar aims to those agreed last year in Bali, Indonesia, and marked no real breakthrough. «We are now at the point where a lot has been resolved but a limited number of issues remain outstanding,» de Boer told reporters. De Boer said in a statement they resolved to spell out specific emissions commitments for industrial countries, to raise large-scale funds to help poor countries adapt to their changing climate, and to create institutions to channel those funds. He acknowledged that a fully drafted treaty likely would not be completed by next December, but said a «policy framework» should be ready for ratification and should enter into force in 2013. More than 10,000 delegates and activists are working on a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, and requires 37 industrial countries to cut emissions by an average 5 percent from 1990 levels. In a draft document to be approved later Wednesday, a key committee cited scientific studies saying industrial countries must cut carbon emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020 to contain global warming to safe levels. But the committee fell short of actually adopting that target, leaving the issue for talks next year.
