Surprising Number of Nations Produce Climate Plans Before UN Deadline

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

In Bonn on Friday, the numbers came out for the nations making public their plans to cut back on carbon emissions and slow the rate of climate change. Representing three-quarters of the total membership of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (which comprises almost all nations of the world, at 196) and almost 90% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, 146 countries have submitted their intended nationally determined contributions to the United Nations. India’s was the key contribution in this round.

All the developed countries under the Convention have taken part, and 104 developing member countries—many of them barely emitters—or almost 70% of the developing member states.

INDC coverage by 10/1/15 (twitter/UNFCCC)

The World Resources Institute describes the importance of these climate plans:

“As the key vehicle for governments to communicate internationally how they will cut emissions for the post-2020 period, INDCs allow countries to demonstrate leadership on addressing climate change. While climate change is a global challenge, each country faces unique circumstances, including different emissions profiles and emissions-reduction opportunities, different risks from a changing climate, and different resource needs. Through their INDCs, countries can tailor their contributions to their own national priorities, capabilities, and responsibilities. These individual measures can be the basis for collective action, and, if they are ambitious enough, set a path toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.”

Widely known as a cautious optimist, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, was delighted to see this response well exceed the number of climate plans estimated before now:

“Over the past few months, the number of countries submitting their climate action plans to the Paris agreement has grown from a steady stream into a sweeping flood. This unprecedented breadth and depth of response reflects the increasing recognition that there is an unparalleled opportunity to achieve resilient, low-emission, sustainable development at national level.”

Not only have a surprisingly large number pledged to reduce emissions at this point, but more than 4 out of 5 plans include both quantifiable objectives and intended adaptations to climate change. Here’s a table of pledges from some of the heavy hitters:

Climate pledges (INDCs) around the world (the guardian.com)

Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!

See the UN’s INDC submission portal for copies of each nation’s submissions and associated material. The climate plans range from complete fossil freedom (Sweden) to no plan yet (Saudi Arabia).

As requested earlier by parties to the convention, Figueres will synthesize and report on all the INDCs on November 1. Nonresponding countries to date can continue submit their plans at any time between now and the UN’s world climate change conference (COP21) in Paris (November 30 to December 11). It’s hoped that COP21 will be a turning point that puts the world on track to the low-emission, climate-resilient, and sustainable future.

The ultimate objective is a worldwide treaty that will replace the Kyoto Protocol and stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level of human interference that does not endanger the climate system. A two-degree rise has previously been posited during the process, but participants are beginning to lobby for 1.5 degrees as a safer alternative.

The numbers collected last week, and those to follow later this year, represent the world’s first bottom-up carbon and emission reduction estimates determined by all the emitting countries themselves. As such, they differ from estimates prepared before 2014 by reflecting nation-specific perspectives rather than an artificial one-size-fits-all formula.

As we noted last spring:

“The Paris UN summit at the end of the year will attempt to limit average temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era just a few centuries ago. While experts considering the proposed and declared international contributions to date do not see this goal as immediately attainable, the consensus appears to be that the effort should result in a viable feedback loop. Further rounds of INDCs can then approach the target more closely. And of course, it’s a moving target as the UN and member nations accumulate more data to sharpen the forecasts.”

The Guardian quoted Climate Action Tracker as calculating that despite the INDC targets, global warming will still grow by 2.7 degrees C. by 2050 and roughly 3.6 degrees C. by the end of the century. Says Climate Nexus:

“This is 0.4 degrees lower than predictions the group made a year ago and marks the first time that predictions have ever fallen below 3 degrees, illustrating the impact that governments are having by submitting specific pledges to fight climate change.”

CleanTechnica offers much more information and regular updates on the complex UN process. Stay with us as developments unfold on the way to December’s COP21 summit in Paris.


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.