US submits Copenhagen Accord emission target

The US yesterday joined with the EU in formally submitting its proposed emission target for 2020 to the UN under the Copenhagen Accord.

As widely expected, the US stuck with its negotiating position at last month's Copenhagen Summit, saying that it would cut greenhouse gas emissions 17 per cent on 2005 levels by 2020, although it said the target was dependent on domestic climate change legislation being passed.

The submission, which will be added to the annex of the Copenhagen Accord, states that the US will cut its emissions "in the range of 17 per cent, in conformity with anticipated US energy and climate legislation, recognising that the final target will be reported to the Secretariat in light of enacted legislation".

The announcement came on the same day as the EU also retained its position at the Copenhagen Summit, committing to cut emissions 20 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 and promising to raise the target to 30 per cent if other large emitters made similarly ambitious commitments.

Meanwhile, Norway's environment minister, Erik Solheim, said yesterday that he had written to the UN confirming the country would support the Copenhagen Accord and retain its pledge to cut emissions 30 per cent by 2020 and raise the target to 40 per cent if other nations increased their targets.

And the low-lying Marshall Islands announced it would sign up to the Accord and cut greenhouse emissions 40 per cent by 2020. "If one of the smallest and most vulnerable island states can take action, the largest countries have no excuse not to follow our example," said Marshall Islands foreign minister John Silk.

All eyes will now turn to the BASIC group of countries - Brazil, China, South Africa and India - who are expected to submit climate change action plans to the UN ahead of the 31 January deadline for countries to formalise their support for the agreement.

As of the middle of this week, only nine countries had submitted commitments to the UN as part of the Accord. However, the last few days have seen a flurry of nations delivering submissions and if, as expected, all the BASIC countries table their plans before the deadline on Sunday, then countries accounting for around 80 per cent of global emissions will have signed up the deal.

Other countries are also expected to submit targets in the coming weeks after UN climate change chief Yvo De Boer said that 31 January represented a "soft deadline".

However, the support for the Copenhagen Accord came as India's foreign minister Jairam Ramesh revealed that one of the main points of contention at the Copenhagen Summit was no closer to resolution, confirming that the BASIC countries wanted to see two separate negotiating tracks retained in the run up to this year's climate change summit in Mexico City.

According to Indian media reports, Ramesh has written to Danish minister for climate and energy Lykke Friis, who is still officially in charge of the COP process, urging him to schedule additional meetings for both the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) and the Ad hoc Working Group under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) ahead of the next international round of negotiations in Bonn in June.

Rich nations have been lobbying hard for the negotiating process to be simplified and for the negotiations to extend the Kyoto Protocol to be scrapped in favour of negotiations to deliver a new Treaty likely to be based on the Copenhagen Accord.

However, Ramesh confirmed that the BASIC countries would not countenance a move away from the two-track model. Developing countries are reluctant to scrap the Kyoto Protocol, arguing that it is the only legal mechanism for forcing rich nations to curb their emissions and fearing that any replacement would increase the burden on poorer countries to cut emissions.