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Low ambitions
Although the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted at Doha, participating countries set their emission reduction target at only 18 percent. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report in 2007, developed economies as a group will have to reduce emissions by 25-40 percent from 1990 levels to keep temperature increases within an acceptable range.
The EU insisted on an emissions reduction target of 20 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, and reiterated its conditional offer to move to 30 percent, provided that other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reduction, and that developing countries contribute adequately in accordance with their responsibilities and respective capabilities.
Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Russia refused to join the second period of the Kyoto Protocol.
The United States, not a party to the Kyoto Protocol, previously set its emission reduction target at 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, which equals to a cut of only about 3-4 percent below 1990 levels.
"Current pledges are grossly inadequate," said Fatou Ndeye Gaye, Gambian Minister of Forestry and the Environment, in a speech on behalf of the least developed countries. A series of recent scientific reports call for bold action as the world is on track for a 3-to-5-degree rise in temperature, she said.
Current ambitions are low, and developed countries should really step up, said Edna Molewa, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs of South Africa, at a joint press conference by BASIC countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and China).
Insufficient funds
Financing was among the important issues on which parties failed to reach an agreement, said Su Wei, China's chief climate negotiator, at the closing plenary of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action at the Doha conference.
The $30-billion fast-start fund available from 2010 to 2012 would soon expire. With developed countries that are still recovering from the economic crisis being the primary source of past funding, uncertainties loom over a possible scale-up of the program to $100 billion per year by 2020.
This extraordinarily weak result on climate financing fails to commit any funds or ensure a pathway to the target of $100 billion a year by 2020, said CAN-I in a press release.
The decision asks for governments to submit possible long-term financing pathways, and calls for public funds for adaptation, but does not mention a solid figure, according to CAN-I.
"When it comes to political statements, developed countries are ready to offer support, but when it comes to figures, they are not fulfilling their commitments," said Larbi Djacta, Minister Counselor in charge of G77 of the Permanent Mission of Algeria to the United Nations.
According to Djacta, the biggest concern is if and how developed countries will fulfill their commitments, meaning, will they support developing countries financially, and help them acquire new technology to enhance their capacities.
Su underscored the need for a goal for the 2013-15 phase in order to avoid gaps and ensure sufficient financial support for developing countries.
When Sibusiso B. Dlamini, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Swaziland, made a speech on behalf of the African Group, he also said Africa calls for concrete financial support for adaptation activities and technology, with no mid-term gap during the implementation of the Bali Road Map.
At the Doha conference, developing countries proposed that developed counterparts raise $20 billion per year between 2013 and 2015 as a mid-term climate fund.
But developed countries as a whole did not make clear mid-term financing commitments for the 2013-15 period. Moreover, the amount is far from enough. | 
