UN Climate Change talks wrap up tomorrow and there are still no signs of an agreement being reached to extend the Kyoto Protocol.
Talking on ABC Radio today, the parliamentary secretary for climate change, Mark Dreyfus, said there is no sign of a breakthrough on a number of key sticking points.
It is the middle of the night in Qatar, as Dreyfus pointed out: "There are a lot of weary people wandering around, but also a lot of passionate and committed people.
"We've made a lot of progress since arriving but we are still trying to reach an outcome on Kyoto; I think we will eventually get there. Often in these climate change talks each year, things go right down to the last minute."
Dreyfus said it is important to get agreement on a global treaty by 2015, which will be put in place by 2020.
He confirmed that Japan and Russia won't be joining a second commitment period. But Europe, with more than 30 countries, will commit, along with Australia.
Australia's first Kyoto Protocol commitment ends on December 31, 2012.
"This is the first year in a four year negotiation toward 2015 so it is a work in progress," Dreyfus said.
"There are almost 200 climate change ministers here and I have had a chance to talk to every one of them and the message I get loud and clear is that countries are taking action.
"By next year over a billion people in the world will be living in a city where polluters pay for the carbon pollution they're putting into the earth's atmosphere."
