• In typical international climate summit fashion, the COP18 meetings ended in a last–minute marathon session complete with frustration, accusation, acrimony and a halting step forward in what is called the "Doha Climate Gateway" agreement
• The agreement contains an 8-year extension of the Kyoto Protocol until 2020 limited in scope to only 15% of the global carbon dioxide emissions due to the lack of participation of Canada, Japan, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, New Zealand and the United States and due to the fact that developing countries like China (the world's largest emitter), India and Brazil are not subject to any emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol
• Ultimately steps were taken with the hope that by 2015, only 3 years hence, a global agreement can be forged 

Doha, Dec. 14.─ The 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18) wrapped up last week. Negotiations ran a day overschedule, but concluded with an agreement on the "Doha Climate Gateway". According to information published by the conference website, the deal marks the beginning of discussion on a universal, legally-binding international agreement on greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. COP18 materials specify that such an agreement could be ratified as soon as 2015, and come into force by 2020. A primary goal of the initiatives is to restrict climate increase to less than 2 degrees Celsius.

Doha, Dec. 9 (Agencies).─ The Kyoto Protocol will be extended until 2020, after Qatar pushed through an agreement at the global climate change conference in Doha yesterday.

The president of the 18th session of the Conference of Parties (COP18), HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, said the new agreement, the only internationally binding treaty on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, would apply from 2013.