The conference included the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 7).

Governments decided in Durban to adopt a new universal legal agreement on climate change that will apply to all countries no later than 2015. A new group called the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action is tasked with implementing this goal. Although the details remain to be worked out, 38 industrialized nations, largely from Europe, also agreed to further targets and reporting under a second Kyoto Protocol commitment period beginning on January 1, 2013 and ending in 2017.

"I salute the countries who made this agreement. They have all laid aside some cherished objectives of their own to meet a common purpose - a long-term solution to climate change," said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC.

A significantly advanced framework for the reporting of emission reductions for both developed and developing countries was also agreed, taking into consideration the common but differentiated responsibilities.

The next UNFCC Conference of the Parties (COP18) takes place 26 November to 7 December 2012 in Qatar.