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The parties gathered for the past two weeks in Cancun, Mexico for the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) summit have managed to come up with an outcome of a moderate, yet successful package.

Far from the deadlock of the last day of the previous meeting in Copenhagen a year ago, countries have shown compromise on positions. The hero that moved things forward this year is, hands down, Patricia Espinosa, the Mexican president of COP 16. The transparency and effort put into the process restored the faith of the parties to work together – after that was nearly lost following the Copenhagen accords and the “Danish secret text” fiasco.

So to summarize things up, here are the most important points in the new deal, dubbed the Cancun Agreements:

1) Industrialized countries will be required to submit progress on their binding targets annually, while developing countries will receive funding and technological support to mitigate climate change and to develop with clean technologies. They will report on their progress every two years.

2) The Clean Development Mechanisms have been expanded to include projects of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) . While some countries, such as Brazil, opposed this decision, they all compromised to accept it as long as its safety is well-researched and determined.

3) Copenhagen Accords targets for finance were formally accepted. Developed world countries will raise 30 billion USD by 2012 as a fast track fund for climate change action in developing countries. This number will be raised to 100 billion USD annually by 2020 (nothing is mentioned on what will happen between 2012 and 2020 though – but hopefully financing will gradually be increasing during that period). A new “Green Climate Fund” will be set up under the Conference of the Parties to manage the financing issues, with equal representation from the developing and developed world.

4) A new Cancun Adaptation Framework will be set up along with the fund to help developing countries plan and implement adaptation projects. The issue of loss and damage will also be included in this process. This basically covers adaptation needs resultant from the effects of climate change and climate change mitigation.

5) Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) is now officially adopted under the UNFCCC texts for the first time. This was set in motion in Copenhagen, but the agreement was developed now, with developing countries providing financial and technological support to poor forest countries to protect their forests.

6) The parties have agreed to set up a technology mechanism, which will have a Technology Executive Committee and Climate Technology Centre and Network. This mechanism will facilitate the transfer of knowledge and cooperation to support actions on adaptation and mitigation.

7) The document continues to recognize the 2°C target as the upper limit of accepted global warming, while mentioning the better, more reliable 1.5°C targets (which small island states are calling for.)

What the agreement does not cover is:

1) The fate of the Kyoto Protocol. The Cancun agreement could not come up with text regarding a second commitment phase for the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding agreement the world has on climate change targets. It only mentions the importance of a renewal of the ailing agreement.

2) New, more ambitious targets for carbon emission reductions. The Kyoto Protocol targets are extremely weak, and the US is not even a signatory to them. To keep temperature increase below 2°C much more ambitious targets are needed. It only calls on developed countries to reduce emissions by 25% to 40% below 1990 levels by 2020.

3) Clear targets for carbon emission cuts beyond 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires. This is particularly dangerous because, if 2012 comes (and COP18) and there are no new targets, this could create a so-called “gap”, where there are no countries at all worldwide.

The next meeting will be held in Durbin, South Africa, in December 2011. COP17 is where new emission targets are expected to be discussed. This means it potentially could get messy again. But for now, let’s celebrate our renewed faith in the COP process in general.

At least on that front Cancun saves the day.