The Wire

Almost two hundred nations are gathering in Doha to kick off the UN climate talks over the next fortnight. The international talks come amid growing urgency to extend the Kyoto Protocol to a second term and pressure to draft a global treaty involving both developed and developing countries from 2020.

NGO’s say they are optimistic about the chances of achieving a binding agreement, despite the intractability of big greenhouse gas emitters in international negotiations to date.  But one expert says he concerned that despite Australia signing up to Kyoto 2, there is a real danger Australia’s emission targets will be weakened through creative accounting.