Climate change success for European Union

The UN climate change conference in Durban is being hailed a success, as the 'big three' emitters agree to a legally binding roadmap to climate change in Europe.

EU's Connie Hedegaard was at the centre of the negotiations, clinching the deal with a face-to-face talk with India's Jayanthi Natarajan. India had become a significant hurdle in the negotiations, with concerns that legally binding legislation on greenhouse emissions would harm its economic growth.

The new international climate change treaty will be signed by 2015 and come into force by 2020, becoming the first legal regime of emissions cutting. India, China and America united behind the treaty at a crucial time for climate change, as pollution in these countries showed alarming rates of growth in recent years. China and India saw a nine per cent increase in emissions annually, with America's increase by four per cent year-on-year.

The treaty now includes a total of 120 countries, with India being the last to sign up to the deal. The stumbling mentality from the subcontinent could have broken the deal altogether, with successful negotiations being attributed to Connie Hedegaard and Jayanthi Natarajan.

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate change secretary, who led the British team at the talks, commented in the Independent: "This is a very good example of how the European Union can act crucially in the British national interest, in a way we could not possibly achieve on our own."