Much has been written about last years shambolic UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, yet to the vast majority of the general public little is actually know about the only notable progress made during it.

The Copenhagen Accord, the agreement cobbled together in haste at the end of December's summit in the Danish capital, set a target date of January 31 by which governments were supposed to tell the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) secretariat what pledges they are prepared to make on curbing greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020. They have met this target.

However the countries that account for over two thirds of global emissions cannot be expecting universal appreciation for meeting a deadline plucked from the air with very little consideration behind it, an accord that was met with fierce criticism at the time of its conception. People are now even disputing its title as a genuine "accord".

The accord was the product of panic amongst world leaders and decision-makers as they faced the prospect of having absolutely nothing to present to the world after building the summit up as our "last chance to avoid climate change disaster."

Legally binding agreements

A lot was riding on America's attendance at the summit as President Barack Obama was expected to carefully steer other leaders into agreeing to measures that would lead to legally binding agreements. But what was hoped to be achieved in the Danish capital was always going to be some distance from what was actually achieved.

On the last day, an interim political agreement (the Copenhagen Accord), seemingly thrown together by Obama in the course of his diplomacy meetings the previous day, was the cause of serious conflict.

The passing of any type of accord needs unanimity within UN ruling, but a small group of countries, including Sudan and Venezuela, said they would not allow it to be adopted. By the time the heated disputes had cooled the parties involved agreed they would "take note" of the accord rather than formally adopt it, a situation that left out Sudan et al.

Everyone, Obama included, insist this is "not enough" and alarm bells are now ringing louder than ever to the fact that we may have ruined our "final chance" to reverse the effects of climate change, which is why this renewing of vows has been met without fan fare.

Room for skepticism

All the 25 countries that signed up to the accord have done is confirm they will stand by targets outlined in the lead up to COP15 - so it's nice to know that some of the world's most power nations aren't liars at least.

Currently, only Japan, which has committed to cut emissions 25 per cent by 2020 on 1990 levels, and Norway, which has said it will cut emissions by 30-40 per cent by the same date, have set targets in line with recommendations to reduce emissions from industrialised nations by 25 to 40 per cent by 2020.

Europe sort of did something worthwhile, saying that EU members are willing to increase their target to 30 percent by 2020 if other countries show similar commitments. But this remains at their discretion which allows for skepticism.

Countries like China and India continue to frustrate diplomats from industrialised countries by failing to explicitly back the Copenhagen Accord in their submissions to the UN - 20 years after it was signed, the Kyoto Protocol still looms large for many developing nations.

Some form of agreement must be made in preparation for a post 2012 world when Kyoto expires, let's hope more progress is made when policymakers meet again in Mexico this November.

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