By the 31 January deadline, 55 countries accounting for 78% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions had notified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat of their reduction targets or mitigation plans. NGO US Climate Action Network last night said this had risen to 87 countries, representing just over 80% of global emissions.

Most of the pledged cuts or limitation plans are little changed from those announced pre-Copenhagen. The one notable exception is Canada, which has changed its target to match that of the US, for a 17% cut on 2005 levels by 2020 – in effect, allowing the country’s GHGs to grow by 3% compared with 1990 emissions. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Canada committed to cut its emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012, a target since abandoned by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“It’s quite disappointing that the Copenhagen Accord refers to the 2°C threshold at the end of the century and the major developed countries haven’t stepped up their efforts,” said Martin Kaiser, Germany-based international climate policy coordinator for NGO Greenpeace, adding that the current proposals will only restrict the global increase in temperatures to 3-4°C.

Antony Froggatt, a senior research fellow at think-tank Chatham House in London, noted that the targets are at “the lower end of domestic commitments” and it is difficult to see how the international negotiations will pan out. “It’s not very clear how it will proceed in the next few months, and what the ambition is,” he added, particularly as the accord makes no reference to the legally binding agreement that was the goal of the Copenhagen talks.

However, German carbon asset manager First Climate’s senior policy analyst Alina Averchenkova said: “Personally, I’m quite pleased that most of the major emitters have supported the accord ... Of course, there is some debate about the legal status of the document, but it does have the support of the major countries and can be used to guide the negotiations to Mexico.”

She added that some of the developing country proposals and support for the accord could allow some issues left unresolved at December’s summit in Copenhagen to be closed now, such as the need for national actions to be measured, reported and verified. And having pledges from both developed and developing countries could break the deadlock in the climate talks and allow a new text to be negotiated – under the UNFCCC – at this year’s talks in Mexico.

“Many of the G77 countries have indicated that that’s the desired approach,” Averchenkova said.

Froggatt suggested one way to move things forward would be to mobilise the promised $30 billion in fast-track financing for mitigation and adaptation efforts between 2010 and 2012 in countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change – such as small island states. This financing “is agreed and is designed to be relatively quick, and moves the Copenhagen Accord details forward”, he said. However, he also acknowledged that there remain some questions about where the money will come from and what types of projects it will support.


Source: www.carbon-financeonline.com