Durban dithers on the details of a new climate pact

THE Kyoto Protocol remained on life support last night as "difficult" talks in Durban wobbled towards a possible compromise.

THE Kyoto Protocol remained on life support last night as "difficult" talks in Durban wobbled towards a possible compromise.

As the world's major emitters positioned themselves to avoid taking the blame for a collapse of negotiations, it was unclear whether a watered-down European "road map" would be enough to satisfy countries wanting tougher action.

"The real question is: how good a deal can we get?" said Alden Meyer, of the US Union of Concerned Scientists.

The South African hosts were being described as "slow and inflexible".

There has been some progress at the Durban talks over the past two weeks, including the establishment of a Green Development Fund, through which developed nations are to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries by 2020.

Progress was also made on talks to preserve African and Indonesian rainforests, to tackle poverty and store carbon.

Some countries, including Australia, wanted the focus to be on the success of voluntary national actions set out in pledges in Cancun last year.

But attention has focused on the future of the Kyoto Protocol and whether negotiations can start on a new treaty covering the world's major carbon emitters.

The two issues are inexorably linked. Without a deal on a new, legally binding treaty, the Kyoto signatory countries are unwilling to recommit.

Discussions have centred on the EU's plan for a "road map" to progress global climate change action to 2020 and beyond. The key issues were the timetable for action, which countries would be covered and how legally binding the document would be.

China, the US and India are key to the talks' success or failure.

Developed nations, including Australia, have signalled they will not commit to a second round of the Kyoto Protocol without a complementary agreement that covers the world's major emerging nations, such as China and India.

China says it is willing to discuss a deal but has five conditions and left it unclear whether it would agree to a legally binding treaty before 2020.

The US threw its support behind the EU roadmap on Thursday after its chief negotiator, Todd Stern, was heckled when giving his country's position: supporting action before 2020 but with no indication of when a new global agreement would be negotiated or take effect.