Following negotiations, on 10/12/2010 delegates at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) in Cancun adopted by consensus the Cancun Accords, a series of documents that will provide the basis for efforts to confront climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires.

The accords include a $30 billion-package for 2012 to aid nations taking immediate actions to halt effects of global warming, as well as financing for long-term projects to protect the environment through a Green Fund, which will provide $100 million annually for adaptation and mitigation measures.

Delegates also approved the creation of the forestry program Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) to facilitate the flow of resources to communities dedicated to forest conservation.

Africa would like to change the entire architecture of the UNFCCC as well as that of multilateral financial institutions as regards climate change financing; so as to remove some of the logjams that often impede access to financing for projects already adopted by international institutions and developed countries, according to the conclusions of a recent meeting of experts held ahead of Cancun, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The European Union welcomed the positive results of the Cancún climate conference, stating that the balanced and substantive package of decisions adopted, known as the Cancún Agreement, represents an important further step on the road to building a comprehensive and legally binding framework for climate action for the period after 2012.

The Cancún Agreement builds on the decisions taken a year ago in Copenhagen and also sets out processes for making further progress in the future. Key elements of the package include:

• Acknowledgement for the first time in a UN document that global warming must be kept below 2°C compared to the pre-industrial temperature, and establishment of a process to define a date for global emissions to peak and a global emissions reduction goal for 2050;
• The emission pledges of developed and developing countries have been anchored in the UN process and a process set out to help clarify them. The text also recognises that overall mitigation efforts need to be scaled up in order to stay within the 2°C ceiling;
• Agreement to launch a process to strengthen the transparency of actions to reduce or limit emissions so that overall progress can be tracked more effectively;
• Confirmation of the goal that developed countries will mobilise US$ 100 billion in climate funding for developing countries annually by 2020, and establishment of a Green Climate Fund through which much of the funding will be channelled;
• Agreement on the Cancún Adaptation Framework to enhance action on adaptation to climate change;
• Launch of a "REDD+" mechanism enabling action to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries;
• Agreement to consider setting up new carbon market mechanisms going beyond a project-based approach;
• Establishment of a Technology Mechanism, including a Technology Executive Committee and a Climate Technology Center and Network, to enhance technology development and transfer;
• Establishment of a clear process for reviewing the adequacy of the goal of keeping global warming below 2°C, including consideration of strengthening the goal to 1.5°C, to be concluded in 2015;
• Extension of the work of the ad hoc working groups under the UN climate change convention and the Kyoto Protocol for a further year while leaving open the legal form of the eventual outcome of the negotiations.