The COP24 climate talks in Katowice, Poland, have ended, with a deal struck between the 200 delegate countries somewhat after the official scheduled close of the summit. A single set of rules regarding the measurement and reporting of emissions has been agreed, as well as the reporting of targets, which supersedes the previous system which made a distinction between developed and developing countries. Reporting to the UN is to occur every two years, while new targets are to be set by each country every five years. While the US is due to pull out of the Paris Agreement by 2020 (when the Agreement is set to take effect), it still participated in the talks, at one stage hosting a forum on clean fossil fuel use, to which only Poland and Australia also sent speakers. As a whole, the conference was successful in agreeing the rules by which the Paris agreement will be assessed, although a mechanism to allow trading of carbon permits on a global basis was not agreed. Spanish environment minister Teresa Ribera summed up the agreement by saying “I think on balance the outcome is fantastic.” It will now fall to countries to actually deliver on their Paris Agreement pledges, the rules having being agreed. The importance of the talks was perhaps best expressed by Xie Zhenhua, China’s climate chief, who said “Climate change is the greatest challenge of mankind, in front of it no country is spared, and destinies are shared.”