The UN climate conference at Cancun today reached a compromise to set up a 100 billion Dollar Green Fund to fight global warming. The decision has been hailed by India as an important step forward. But there was no agreement on extending the landmark Kyoto Protocol on emissions cuts beyond 2012.Minutes after a set of decisions was adopted at the end of the two-week conference of ministers from nearly 200 countries, host Mexican President Felipe Calderon said confidence is back and hope has returned.Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said the major emerging economies — Brazil, South Africa, India and China – BASIC have welcomed the decision. He said they are very happy with the text and Cancun represents an important step forward.Progress at the conference includes a broad agreement on technology-sharing mechanism that will ensure that poor and vulnerable countries are able to access green technologies easily and in a cost-effective manner.A 'Green Fund' has been set up that is expected to mobilise 100 billion dollars per year by 2020, which will be given to developing countries for adaptation and mitigation purposes. The nitty-gritty of the technology and finance mechanism still needs to be worked out.The decisions reached in this conference will be followed up in negotiations next year. It is hoped that a legally binding treaty emerges at the next climate meet in Durban, South Africa.Bolivia was the sole country to oppose the decision in Cancun, but was eventually overruled.Many of the contentious issues had been bypassed to reach compromises in Cancun. For instance, no number had been given for further emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol and there was no commitment to continue the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012.Some groups said that it is a weak text that will eventually lead to the death of Kyoto Protocol. The protocol is the only treaty that imposes legally binding cuts on developed countries. Others said that it is a workable compromise for the moment. Space has been given to dump the Kyoto protocol.Chandra Bhushan from the Centre of Science and Environment the text allows for creation of new market mechanisms for carbon trading. This can be built of the existing market mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol.