UN climate deal reached in Lima

Lima: Negotiators from over 190 countries, including India, today adopted a format for national pledges to cut global carbon emissions, ending a deadlock between rich and poor countries to agree on a new ambitious and binding deal to be signed in Paris next year to combat climate change.

After a marathon UN climate summit in the Peruvian capital of Lima, President of the meeting Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said delegates had approved a broad blueprint for negotiations leading up to a deal in 2015, to take effect in 2020.

"The document is approved," announced Pulgar-Vidal, who is also the Environment Minister of Peru.

The deal -- dubbed the Lima Call for Climate Action -- paves the way for what is envisioned as the historic agreement in environmental history. .