The European Union says it welcomes the positive results of the Cancun climate conference.
"The balanced and substantive package of decisions adopted December 11, 2010, known as the Cancun Agreement, represents an important further step on the road to building a comprehensive and legally binding framework for climate action for the period after 2012," EU said in a statement made available to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday.
The EU statement says the Cancun Agreement builds on the decisions taken a year ago in Copenhagen and also sets out processes for making
further progress in the future.
"It represents a well balanced compromise between different interests within the United Nations system."
The key elements of the package include acknowledgement for the first time in a UN document that global warming must be kept below 2°C compared to the pre-industrial temperature, and establishment of a process to define a
date for global emissions to peak and a global emissions reduction goal for 2050.
Under the package, the emission pledges of developed and developing countries have been anchored in the UN process and a process set out to help to clarify them.
The text also recognises that overall mitigation efforts need to be scaled up in order to stay within the 2°C ceiling; confirmation of the goal that developed countries will mobilise USD 100 billion in climate funding for developing countries annually by 2020, and establishment of a Green Climate Fund through which much of the funding will be channelled.
Others are agreement to consider setting up new carbon market mechanisms going beyond a project-based approach; establishment of a
Technology Mechanism, including a Technology Executive Committee and a Climate Technology Centre and Network, to enhance technology development and transfer.
It quoted the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso as saying, "The Cancun Agreement on climate change struck today (Saturday) represents an important step towards a comprehensive and legally binding framework for global climate action.
European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, said: "The EU came to Cancun to get a substantial package of action-oriented decisions and keep the international climate change negotiations on track.
"We have helped to deliver the successful outcome the world expected and needed. But the two weeks in Cancún have shown once again how slow and difficult the process is. Everyone needs to be aware that we still have a long and challenging journey ahead of us to reach the goal of a legally binding global climate framework."