After four years of squabbling, the countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol finally agreed in Paris to the accounting rules for the international treaty’s second phase.

This sounds technical, but has a lot to do with Australia.

The tiny nation of St Lucia revealed it had done a deal with Australia, along with South Africa, to allow land sector emissions to be included in calculating emissions under Kyoto.

It means reductions in deforestation will be reflected in Australia’s emissions and allow the country to carry over significant excess achievements from the first period.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull revealed on day one of the conference that Australia would ratify Kyoto two, even if the rules didn’t go its way.

Ratifying the second phase sends a signal of commitment to the globe, but also allows Australia to access carry-over credits.

Meanwhile, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain announced they would forfeit their carry-over credits to show “support for an ambitious global climate agreement here in Paris”.

The text

The party-driven text was handed over to the French on Saturday at 48 pages after days of slow negotiations.

With the opening text presented at 54 pages, it’s taken 196 countries’ delegates a week to shave six pages off the draft agreement.

It’s not as concise as the French would have liked and still includes a maze of bracketed items and options.

Major issues such as finance and target reviews remain unsolved.

Some predict the French will have to develop their own text to leave all parties equally unhappy, but not angry enough to walk away.

However, France has so far been tight-lipped on its plan for this week, and any possible revised text.

Tensions

Saudi Arabia, which is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, was a key discussion point in week one.

The country, as it often does, deployed tactics to delay and frustrate the process.

Saudi Arabia was behind blocking key science into whether the world should aim for a higher ambition to limit global warming.

The move highlighted the tensions within the developing nation negotiating block, known as the G77 (plus China).

The disagreement over a more ambitious 1.5-degree target is splitting vulnerable nations such as Costa Rica, away from large developing economies, such as Saudi Arabia and China.

It’s understood Saudi negotiators spent hours objecting to small things such as full stops and semi-colons.