Qatar, the host country, today launched desperate measures to salvage the failing climate talks in Doha by proposing a compromise agreement that was low on ambition but kept the Kyoto Protocol and the prospect of a successor deal alive, as the talks went down to the wire.
The meeting that was supposed to end yesterday, stretched well beyond the stipulated time but a common ground was yet to be found till evening.
The developments came after negotiators worked through the night over intrinsic details and language that could be acceptable to all, with discussions continuing till the day.
"It was a long day," said Conference of the Parties (COP) President Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, summing up the sentiment of the tired and weary negotiators, some of whom were seen catching small naps in the plenary as they waited for the dissent-hit slow proceedings to move.
"While everyone is unhappy but everyone wants an agreement (nevertheless). I didn't want to open the Pandora's box by opening the entire texts again because we will never finish. I am not carrying a magic trick, but please help me, this is at least a good text, we cannot find a text satisfying everyone.
"I beg you to help the President, this is my final begging to accept what we can offer," he told delegates.
The 12 days of talks saw bitter wrangling over the poor countries' insistence that the rich nations make substantial pledges to cut greenhouse gases and finance mitigation and adaptation efforts in the poor countries that have not historically contributed to global warming but are presently the most vulnerable.
The proposal for the compromise agreement states that parties to the Kyoto Protocol would have to review their targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2014.
However, on the finance front that was a major issue of discord during these talks. The proposal allows developed nations to walk away without making any commitments by extending the work programme by a year to the end of 2013.
Even then the language appears too weak and rather than calling for clear cut quantitative commitments, it just refers to the developed country Parties' "efforts to identify pathways for mobilizing the scaling up of climate finance to USD 100 billion per year by 2020 from public, private and alternative sources..."
Under the proposal, the parties would leave Doha with little more than the finances to establish the administrative budget for the fund, when they had demanded a clear quantitative figure for operationalisation.
The proposal text also asks for balancing the allocation of the resources of the Green Climate Fund between adaptation and mitigation activities.
The United States, Europe and other developed nations have refused to commit any funds or set a timetable for a rise in aid for the fund that envisages USD 100 billion per year by 2020.
The document however also outlined in a separate text ways to set up an international mechanism for dealing with losses and damage.
What India gained from this year's negotiation was that the principle of equity found a way back into the text after much pushing by Indian negotiators who said this was almost a non-negotiable for them.
The US and other developed countries have not been keen to address the issue of loss and damage at the talks, with the poor countries, which are most at risk, demanding that an international mechanism be established to provide for the losses they suffer because of climate change - that has been largely brought about by the actions of the West since the industrial revolution.
This, however, is anathema to the US as an acceptance of the loss and damage clause will not only mean that it had admitted to the historic responsibility but would also pave ways for damage claims.