"New Climate Battle Looms In South Africa In 2011"

"The world's governments face a new battle in South Africa in 2011 between rich and poor about slowing climate change, buoyed by some progress in Mexico but with faded hopes for a new treaty in coming years.



In 2011, governments will try to build on a deal in Mexico to set up a Green Climate Fund to help channel $100 billion in climate aid a year from 2020, along with new systems to protect tropical forests and share clean technologies.



The two-week meeting in the Caribbean resort that ended on Saturday showed an ever-broader belief that a legally binding deal is far off, partly because of opposition by China and the United States, the world's top emitters of greenhouse gases.



'We still have a long and challenging journey ahead of us,' said Connie Hedegaard, the European Union's Climate Commissioner, of hopes for a legally binding global deal."



Alister Doyle reports for Reuters December 14, 2010.

SEE ALSO:


"A Near-Consensus Decision Keeps U.N. Climate Process Alive and Moving Ahead" (ClimateWire)

"Deal in Cancun Restores Faith in U.N. Climate Process but Many Questions Remain" (Greenwire)
Source: Reuters, 12/14/2010