United States President Barack Obama has said disappointment with the recent Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen is justified. However, he also defended the confusing outcome.

Rich nations pledged 30 billion dollars to help poor countries tackle climate change in the next two years, and proposed increasing that figure to 100 billion dollars annually by 2020. Participants also proposed limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius, but set no binding agreements to reduce the emissions of gases scientists say are heating up the world's atmosphere to dangerous levels.

Speaking in a television interview with US broadcaster PBS, Mr Obama agreed there was little in the Copenhagen accord that would ensure a reduction in global temperatures. However, he said the talks had not collapsed completely and that participants had at least held their ground.

Sweden, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency, called the summit a "disaster" and declared both China and the United States, the world's two biggest polluters, responsible for the result.

Photo of Barack Obama from Wikimedia Commons