An agreement reached at Cancun, Mexico on the need to cut carbon emissions will lead major emitters to cut their pollution, Australian Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said on Sunday.
More than 190 countries present at the UN-led talks agreed to seek "deep cuts" in carbon emissions, which science links with global warming.
Australia's main objective in international climate change talks is to achieve a comprehensive international agreement covering all major emitters, Combet said in a statement released on Sunday, adding that the outcome achieved at Cancun is an important step towards this goal and in line with our stated objectives leading into this conference.
Meanwhile, Australia Associated Press reported that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change also agreed to start a new fund to manage billions of dollars in aid to poor nations.
It anchors pledges made by developed and developing nations at the 2009 Copenhagen conference, which led to the non-binding Copenhagen Accord.
"This is important because it provides an agreed pathway to achieve major emissions cuts," Combet said.
"This is the first time that all major emitters have agreed to report to the world community their commitments and efforts to reduce carbon pollution in their own economies."