CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – A new deal among 190 nations to slow climate change throws a lifeline to U.N.-led talks but they will still struggle to find a deal extending the Kyoto Protocol for cutting carbon emissions beyond 2012.

Most delegates said the main achievement of the two-week conference in Cancun, Mexico was simply to have an agreement, and thereby restore some faith in a damaged U.N. process after a Copenhagen summit in 2009 failed to agree a treaty.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – Almost 200 nations agreed on Saturday to modest steps to combat climate change, including a new fund to help poor countries, and put off major disputes until 2011 and beyond.

“This is a new era of international cooperation on climate change,” Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa told delegates at the end of two weeks of talks after breaking the deadlock between rich and poor countries.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – The world’s governments approved a modest plan on Saturday to combat climate change, including a new “Green Climate Fund” to help poor nations, after sidelining objections by Bolivia.

“This is a new era of international cooperation on climate change,” Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa told delegates at the end of two weeks of talks that were overshadowed by disputes between rich and poor countries.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – Mexico scrambled to break an impasse between rich and poor nations over future cuts in greenhouse gas emissions on Friday as 190-nation climate talks went down to the wire.

Delegates said there was little progress in overnight talks in Mexico’s beach resort of Cancun and that the negotiations, due to end on Friday, may well be extended into Saturday as all sides seek a deal to address global warming.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – China and other big emerging economies must find “some place” between rich and poor countries to help in the global fight against climate change, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Thursday.

Disputes over sharing the burden of emissions limits between developed and developing nations have hobbled a two-week meeting in the Mexican resort of Cancun that is due to end on Friday.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – The outcome of U.N. climate talks is “on a knife edge” on the penultimate day of 190-nation talks with an impasse over the future of the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, Britain said on Thursday.

A deadlock on whether or not to preserve Kyoto after 2012 has hobbled the two-week meeting in Mexico, and countries will have to agree to defer the issue if they are to unlock other deals on climate aid and protection of rainforests.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – The outcome of U.N. climate talks is “on a knife edge” on the penultimate day of 190-nation talks with an impasse over the future of the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, Britain said on Thursday.

A deadlock on whether or not to preserve Kyoto after 2012 has hobbled the two-week meeting in Mexico, and countries will have to agree to defer the issue if they are to unlock other deals on climate aid and protection of rainforests.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – Saying the health of the planet is at stake, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged 190 nations meeting in Mexico on Tuesday to agree to steps to fight climate change without holding out for a perfect deal.

“We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” Ban told a first session of environment ministers at the November 29 to December 10 talks in the Caribbean resort of Cancun where rich and poor nations are split over cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – Resolving a dispute between rich and poor nations over cuts in greenhouse gas emissions is key to unblocking progress on all issues at U.N. climate talks in Mexico, a senior official said on Tuesday.

New draft texts at the November 29 to December 10 talks gave widely varying ways out of the deadlock pitting Japan, Canada and Russia against developing nations who accuse them of breaking promises of future cuts under the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – U.N. climate talks must heed investor demands for binding cuts in greenhouse gases to cement the financial returns that will support low-carbon energy, said the co-head of green investment at a $45 billion British pension fund.

Two weeks of international talks in the Mexican beach resort of Cancun are unlikely to produce a firm decision on emissions targets for developed countries after 2012, when the present round of the Kyoto Protocol ends.