160 Nations Agree to a New Global Warming Treaty

However, Glenn F. Kelly, executive director of the Global Climate Coalition, an industry-backed group that opposes the treaty, said, "From what we see so far, once again the parties have done nothing to address fundamental concerns expressed by the United States for years."

The final agreement came after government environmental ministers -- eager to complete negotiations -- hurried in and out of small conference rooms in Marrakesh, arguing over what they called about a half-dozen "crunch" issues.

According to environmental groups and others monitoring the talks, the final disputes centered on how a set of proposed market-based mechanisms would function to mitigate the treaty's impact on the economies of the countries taking part.

The treaty's mandatory emissions cuts would most heavily penalize highly industrialized countries that use large quantities of coal and other fossil fuels to operate industrial sites and power plants.

The mechanisms were designed to help those countries meet their targets by allowing them to purchase carbon credits on an international financial market from countries with relatively small greenhouse gas emissions, or by reducing their quota by expanding forests and farmlands that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Some members of the European Union have long been skeptical of these mechanisms, arguing that they make it too easy for some major polluters to meet their goals.