Lima United Nations talks agree building blocks for 2015 climate deal

About 190 nations agreed on Sunday the building blocks of a deal to combat climate change in 2015 amid warnings that far tougher action would be needed to cut rising world greenhouse gas emissions.

After marathon talks lasting two days into overtime, the four-page document asks countries to submit national plans to tackle global warming early next year to form the basis of a new global agreement due at a summit in Paris in a year's time.

The text appeased developing countries, including China and India, concerned that previous drafts would impose too heavy a burden on emerging economies compared to the rich in a global effort to address climate change.

"We've got what we wanted," said Indian Environment Minister Prakash Javedekar, who said the text preserves the notion that the rich have to lead the way in making cuts in emissions, breaking deadlock at the negotiations.

He said the deal at the end of the two-week talks also makes it clear that rich countries would have to provide financial support to developing countries.

Even so, the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat has said that the combined pledges by all nations in Paris will be too weak to achieve a goal of limiting warming to an agreed goal of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

"This is a good document to pave the way to Paris," EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete told Reuters.