75 nations set '20 carbon emission targets

PARIS: Seventy-five countries accounting for more than 80 percent of greenhouse gases have filed pledges to curb carbon emissions by 2020, the UN climate convention said today.

The promises were made under the Copenhagen Accord, the outcome of the global climate summit in the Danish capital last December, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said in a press release. A total of 111 countries plus the European Union (EU) “have indicated their support for the Accord,” the UNFCCC said.

Cobbled together in the final hours of the summit, the Copenhagen Accord sets the goal of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius and gathered rich and poor countries in specific pledges for curbing carbon emissions. It also promises money: $30 billion for climate-vulnerable poor countries by 2012, with as much as $100 billion annually by 2020.

Critics say there is no roadmap for reaching the warming target and point out the pledges are voluntary. The UNFCCC’s official report today on Copenhagen lifts lingering doubt that major emitters, including China, India and Brazil, would not give the Accord their political blessing.