Durban, South Africa (CNN) -- An agreement reached Sunday in South Africa will help tackle the challenges of climate change for years to come, the United Nations' chief said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the decision reached by parties of the Climate Change Convention in Durban, South Africa, which agreed to extend efforts set forth in the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol, ratified by 37 industrialized countries, was set to expire in 2012. It mandates that industrialized nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
Ban "welcomes the agreement to establish a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol that will increase certainty for the carbon market and provides additional incentives for new investments in technology and the infrastructure necessary to fight climate change," according to a statement from his office.
U.S. chief negotiator Todd Stern described the talks as "tough" but worthwhile.
"For the first time there is an agreement to negotiate a legal accord of some sort, a legal instrument that is applicable to all countries -- that is a new thing. That means China, India and Brazil -- and there is no hedging in it," Stern said.
The British secretary for energy and climate change also said he was pleased.
"I think we have all come away from this now with a really credible package which will address the problems of global warming," Chris Huhne said.
The agreement came after a marathon session of negotiations.
"It was an extraordinarily complex negotiation with a lot of moving parts.," said Elliot Diringer, an executive vice president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, who was an adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
"Up until the last minute, there was every reason to think that it could well have fallen apart. So I think that the fact that it came together is in of itself a success, even if the outcome doesn't fully satisfy anyone."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the decision reached by parties of the Climate Change Convention in Durban, South Africa, which agreed to extend efforts set forth in the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol, ratified by 37 industrialized countries, was set to expire in 2012. It mandates that industrialized nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
Ban "welcomes the agreement to establish a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol that will increase certainty for the carbon market and provides additional incentives for new investments in technology and the infrastructure necessary to fight climate change," according to a statement from his office.
U.S. chief negotiator Todd Stern described the talks as "tough" but worthwhile.
"For the first time there is an agreement to negotiate a legal accord of some sort, a legal instrument that is applicable to all countries -- that is a new thing. That means China, India and Brazil -- and there is no hedging in it," Stern said.
The British secretary for energy and climate change also said he was pleased.
"I think we have all come away from this now with a really credible package which will address the problems of global warming," Chris Huhne said.
The agreement came after a marathon session of negotiations.
"It was an extraordinarily complex negotiation with a lot of moving parts.," said Elliot Diringer, an executive vice president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, who was an adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
"Up until the last minute, there was every reason to think that it could well have fallen apart. So I think that the fact that it came together is in of itself a success, even if the outcome doesn't fully satisfy anyone."
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