The results of the Warsaw climate talks

The two weeks of international negotiations that ended Saturday "nearly collapsed in overtime before agreements were watered down to a point where no country was promising anything concrete," according to The Associated Press.

Conflicts between rich nations, led by the United States and the European Union, and developing countries, led by China, India and Brazil, stalled progress and threatened to scuttle the conference altogether, media report.

The United States and the EU wanted to set a firm deadline in Warsaw for each of the 195 countries party to the talks to make commitments on emissions reductions that will be enshrined in a new global climate pact at a meeting in Paris in December 2015.

But China, India and a self-proclaimed group of "like-minded" countries said they shouldn't be required to make the same investments to cut carbon emissions as rich nations that created the climate problem by burning fossil fuels during their largely unregulated industrialization in past centuries.

The Warsaw gathering did make notable progress in pledging greater protection of forests in developing nations, says the Los Angeles Times. Trees mitigate emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide, and deforestation is said to account for 20 percent of greenhouse gas accumulation.

Here are some of the main actions agreed on in Warsaw, compiled by Reuters.

Many climate initiatives are happening far from the U.N. talks, as local and national governments pursue low-carbon energy sources and energy efficiency, says AP. And even international efforts increasingly are taking place outside the U.N. climate framework.