MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. The upcoming global forum on climate change in Lima, Peru, will have a significant importance for reaching a deal which could replace the Kyoto protocol, the EU leadership said in an article published by Russia's Kommersant newspaper on Friday.

The 20th United Nations Climate Change Conference, opening on December 1, will focus on a new international agreement on cutting global emissions of greenhouse gases.

In the article, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete remind that in October a European Union goal was agreed to cut greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030.

The decision has given a new impetus to international negotiations on climate change as the United States and China pledged earlier this month to take an ambitious action to limit greenhouse gases.

“The possibility of reaching an agreement on climate change has never been as high as today…Next month will have a decisive importance for striking a binding and important global agreement on the climate change issues,” the article cited by Kommersant says.

The EU officials mark that the summit in Lima will create opportunities to influence other countries, in particular the Group of Twenty (G20) so that they will unveil their goals in the near future.

“The sooner they do this, the more time we will have to assess whether these commitments as a whole enable us, as scientists say, to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. The countries will also discuss methods for assessing various contributions to make sure they are just and are taken into account in joint necessary efforts,” the article reads.

The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.