Suprise breakthrough at planet-saving Bali talks

I feel delight this morning at the news from Bali of agreement at the climate talks (here). Delegates have the for the first time ever agreed a 'roadmap' to a new treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol, a roadmap committing the U.S. and other developed countries to making "deep cuts" in their carbon emissions.

This morning, there is real hope, for the first time in years, that humankind may pull back from the precipice of climate catastrophe. I am hugely relieved that the U.S. delegation at Bali has seen sense, and that at last all the world's nations are committed to the amount of greenhouse gases going into our atmosphere being deeply cut.

This agreement needs to be greatly strengthened and fleshed out over the next 12-24 months, with real numbers attached to it. Our children desperately need us to get a climate agreement together that actually does force deep and fast cuts in emissions. What has happened last night is only a start. But it is, thank goodness, a pretty good start.