The United Nations climate talk in Doha, the capital of the oil-rich nation of Qatar, are coming to a close, and 200 delegates to the conference have agreed on a tenuous extension to the embattled Kyoto Protocol, the 15-year-old international greenhouse gas emissions treaty.
The Kyoto Protocol was set to expire this year, but delegates extended it for an additional eight, to 2020, amid protests from larger, wealthier nations who emit more carbon.
Russia, Japan and Canada all resigned from the treaty. The United States never ratified the treaty, and in 2001, then President George W. Bush refused to adhere to any of its mandates, stripping the treaty of the support or resources of the world's (at the time) largest polluter. China has since moved into the top spot.
The treaty now covers countries responsible for only 15 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, mostly represented by the European Union and Australia.
The initial aim of the treaty was to reduce global emissions to 1990 levels, but in that regard it has been a failure. Global emissions are set to rise 2.6 percent this year, up 50 percent from 1990 levels.
Some Kyoto backers had hoped that the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy in the United States would prompt the Americans to support more stringent measures to curb emissions, which most scientists agree contribute to the strength and frequency of severe weather events like hurricanes, or the droughts currently affecting much of the United States.
But the American delegate quickly explained that there would be no change in policy coming from Washington.
The reality is that the U.S. negotiators here have become nothing more than a stumbling block," said Greenpeace International director Kumi Naidoo.
"What we are missing here is political will," said Pa Ousman, a delegate representing the bloc of least developed countries. "There is no point for us to have celebrated the promises made if the promises are not kept."
Even nations inclined to support the Kyoto Protocol, like the members of the European Union, have little stomach for potentially difficult emissions cuts in the wake of the financial crisis.
The talks were scheduled to end on Friday night, but they will likely drag on for several more days as delegates hope for a last-minute agreement.
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