The U.N. Climate Change Conference is under way in Copenhagen with more than 15,000 participants, including delegates from 192 countries, attending. Its original goal was to conclude a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol and to set a global framework to curb greenhouse gas emissions between 2013 and 2020.
The Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012, calls on the developed countries to reduce their total greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent during the period 2008-2012 from 1990 levels. Emissions from these countries account for about 30 percent of global emissions.
Instead of the original goal, Denmark, chair of the current conference, in view of the difficulty of negotiations and time constraints, has called on the participating countries to produce a basic political agreement that will lead to the formation of a legally binding treaty shortly afterward.