The UN climate summit has ended with a plenary session "taking note" of the so-called Copenhagen Accord. It was forged on Friday night by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, the world's major emitters of greenhouse gasses.

It is far from clear if all 193 UN member states will endorse the accord. Latin American and African countries have sharply criticised the agreement, threatening to boycott it. They accuse Western countries, led by the United States, of betraying the United Nations. The European Union has endorsed the accord while expressing disappointment at its limitations.

The three page-document calls for limiting the rise of global temperatures to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But it fails to set specific targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It leaves monitoring to individual countries. And its current wording is not legally binding.

Most industrialised government leaders left the Copenhagen summit after the accord was agreed. Many other leaders stayed on to discuss it throughout the night. The meeting proved heated and emotional. Sudan's delegation spoke of a suicide pact for Africa, while making comparisons with the Holocaust. The delegates of the Pacific island of Tuvalu predicted their county will soon vanish below the sea unless a better treaty is agreed.

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Presidents Obama and Medvedev in Copenhagen (Photo: EPA)