These are selected news items discussing the outcomes of the United Nations climate change conference held at Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.

Hope and funding for saving forests around the world

In the months leading up to the U.N. sponsored climate talks, there was one thing observers said with confidence: Any final outcome would establish global guidelines for paying poor countries to preserve their tropical forests.

That almost happened. The fact that it didn’t may pose a slight glitch, but is unlikely to halt the proliferation of such projects around the world. The talks did produce concrete short-term financial commitments to fund the effort, with $3.5 billion pledged by Norway, Japan, the United States, Britain, France and Australia. Read more.

Copenhagen was more than the accord

Many are disappointed with COP15’s main output. However, the summit did not only introduce the Copenhagen Accord but also a new kind of dynamics in global climate policy.

The very struggle to reach agreement at Copenhagen (…) demonstrates that climate policy has finally come of age. The negotiations at Copenhagen were so contentious because of the very real impact the proposals will have, not only for the environment, but also on national economies. Read more.

The essentials in Copenhagen

Rather than getting every small detail of a new global climate treaty done in Copenhagen, United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer hopes the conference will reach agreements on four political essentials.

The four essentials are:

1. How much are the industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases?
2. How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions?
3. How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed?
4. How is that money going to be managed? Read more here.

For more information on the Copenhagen conference (COP 15), please visit the following websites:

Website of the United Nations Climate Change Conference:  http://en.cop15.dk/

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: http://unfccc.int/