Friends of the Earth: UN climate agreement 'an empty deal'

Nearly 200 nations have agreed in principle that rich countries will take steps to compensate poorer ones for the damage they have done to the climate. The decision was taken at a UN conference in Qatar.

Developing nations hailed it as a breakthrough, but condemned the gulf between the science of climate change and political attempts to tackle it.

The deal extends the Kyoto Protocol to 2020 - it is the only legally-binding plan for combating global warming.

Andy Atkins, the executive director of environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth, criticised the agreement as an "empty deal".