FRANKFURT: German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier on Sunday hailed a new set of agreements combatting climate change, a day after a UN conference passed the package following a fractious and lengthy debate.
The deal "opens the door to a future of global climate protection," Altmaier said in a statement, even as others argued the agreement was short on substance.
"Starting next year, we will discuss within the EU but also at the international level how to better protect the climate. The result reached in Doha provides a good basis for it," he added.
After 12 days of tough haggling in Doha, the conference passed the package, which extended until 2020 the life of the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding pact on curbing Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
But critics pointed to its water-downed form, as the protocol locks in only developed nations, excluding major developing polluters such as China and India, as well as the United States which refuses to ratify it.
The European Union and the 10 other developed countries that signed up for the extension are jointly responsible for about 15 percent of the world's emissions. (AFP)
