UK praises climate agreement

David Cameron praises new climate change deal

Greenpeace activists made a statement on a beach in Cancun during the UN talks

David Cameron has praised a new UN deal to curb climate change as a "very significant step forward".

The prime minister said it renewed the international community's determination to tackle carbon emissions through multilateral action.

The agreement, reached in Mexico, includes a fund to help developing countries and a recognition that deeper cuts in carbon emissions are needed.

It is estimated the fund could cost the UK about £1.5bn a year by 2020.

More than 190 countries struck the deal at the latest round of UN climate talks in Cancun, which lasted two weeks.

It had been hoped the agreement would be more comprehensive after last year's meeting in Copenhagen failed to secure a new legally-binding treaty on cutting emissions.

But despite the disappointment, many environmental campaigners say it has thrown a lifeline to efforts to get a deal to tackle climate change back on track.

'Greenest ever'

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne, who was in Cancun, described the deal as a "serious package" of measures.

CANCUN CLIMATE DEAL

THINGS ACHIEVED

• Fund to channel money from the West to developing nations
• Formal recognition that current emissions pledges need to rise
• A framework on paying countries not to cut down their forests

THINGS NOT ACHIEVED

• Deeper emissions cuts
• Mechanisms for negotiating deeper emission cuts
• Deciding on the legal status of any new global agreement

He acknowledged the agreement did not give everybody everything they wanted and would still require work towards a final deal at a meeting next year in Durban, South Africa.

Mr Cameron congratulated Mr Huhne and the UK team on the "successful conclusion" of the negotiations.

"Now the world must deliver on its promises. There is more hard work to be done ahead of the climate change conference in South Africa next year," he said.

The UK's share of the public money, based on its carbon emissions, would be about 5% of the total, or around £1.5bn a year by 2020.

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