However, tougher decisions concerning cutting greenhouse gas emission were put off until next year.

According to the agreements made, Green Climate Fund will be established to give poor nations US$100 billion in aid every year until 2020.

The Fund will also take measures to protect tropical forests and facilitate shaming of lean energy technologies.

Ending a long series of talks held in the beach resort of Cancun, Mexico, representatives of almost 200 countries set a target to limit the rise of average world temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F).

But there was no major progress on how to extend the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges almost 40 rich nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

The failure to resolve the central problem of emissions dismayed environmental groups. It is also unclear how the yearly US$100 billion for the Green Climate Fund will be raised.

The first round of Kyoto expires in 2012. The Protocol does not include China and there is no consensus about whether developing countries should set binding targets to cut emissions or whether rich countries should take more action first.