ILOILO CITY, Philippines?Environmental groups lamented what they called the dismal end of the global summit on climate change in Copenhagen and issued a challenge to the Philippines.

"It was a major disappointment and it has stopped the momentum of efforts to push for a concerted global effort to address climate change by reducing carbon emission," Von Hernandez, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview on Sunday.

Hernandez said the non-binding "Copenhagen Accord," which set no overall target for curbing greenhouse gas emissions "does not really move the issue of addressing climate change forward."

The accord was agreed on by the United States, China, South Africa, and India.

Hernandez said the absence of clear targets for reducing toxic gas emissions and legal obligations of states would delay the implementation of comprehensive and long-term solutions to address global warming and climate change.

"The world is still on the brink of a climate disaster. The longer the solution takes, the more difficult it gets," Hernandez said.

In a statement, Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said the Copenhagen Climate Summit came to an "inglorious, incoherent, and fiercely disputed close."

Naidoo said that instead of forging a historic deal to avert climate chaos, leaders of the world's most powerful countries have "betrayed future and current generations. Averting climate chaos has just gotten a whole lot harder."

While some countries including the Philippines have hailed the accord as a step forward, Naidoo refuted this view, pointing out that it has not even been formally adopted by the conference and did not contain strong measures for emission reductions in developed countries.

"It is a major concession to climate polluting industries, especially in the fossil fuel sector, which lobbied hard to undermine a deal and now has a license to continue to pollute," Naidoo said.

The Iloilo-based Madia-as Ecological Movement (MEM) said mere pledges would not solve global warming and climate change.

"What is urgently needed is for big countries like the United States and China, which are the top producers of carbon emissions, to reduce their emissions," said MEM coordinator Ma. Geobelyn Lopez.

Greenpeace said the establishment of a new Climate Funding Mechanism, involving up to $100 billion for developing countries to protect their forest and help adapt to the climate change, was among the "few plus points" of the summit.

But it said there was also an absence of deforestation targets.

"Although the fund could thankfully undermine the use of carbon projects and offsetting tricks of developed countries, the lack of [deforestation reduction] targets is a loophole, which will see the positive impact of real efforts to reduce deforestation undermined by national activities, which will lead to international leakage," Greenpeace said.

Deforestation accounts for a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions, according to Hernandez.

He said that the setback in curbing carbon emissions would heighten the impact of climate change and extreme weather conditions especially in developing countries like Philippines.

He cited the high number of casualties and the extensive damage brought by typhoons in the Philippines.

He said the Philippine government should match its declarations supporting efforts to curb carbon emission by abandoning its policies that promote coal mining and coal-fired power plants.

"It doesn't help for leaders to continue investing in coal exploration and coal-fired power plants. We must invest in green (renewable) energy because it is an investment for the future," Hernandez said.