8 May 2012: The UNFCCC Secretariat has published a technical paper (FCCC/TP/2012/2) on developed countries’ quantified economy-wide emission reduction targets and its underlying conditions and assumptions.

At its 17th session, the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) in decision 2/CP.17, requested the UNFCCC Secretariat to update document FCCC/TP/2011/1 by including new information submitted by parties and exploring commonalities and differences in the approaches to measure progress to the achievement of developed countries’ targets. The paper seeks to provide further clarity on these emission reduction targets, drawing on parties’ submissions and contributions to workshops held in 2011. Among other things, the paper discusses quantitative implications of the assumptions and conditions regarding the use of carbon credits and land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).

The paper shows existing uncertainties and lack of adequate information on elements for the assessment of the progress made by developed countries towards the targets, including in relation to the role of LULUCF. The paper remarks that countries presented a single conditional value for the emission target or a range of values, with a number of countries presenting lower targets as unconditional and higher targets dependent on conditions and assumptions about a new global agreement. The paper states that the aggregate emission reductions of developed countries from 1990-2020 are estimated for the low target to be 12% and 13%, excluding and including LULUCF, respectively, and for the high target to be 18%, excluding and including LULUCF. It further suggests that most developed countries expect improvements in emission intensity between 1990 and 2020, except for economies in transition countries that are expected to remain with relatively high emissions per GDP. [Publication: Quantified Economy-Wide Emission Reduction Targets by Developed Country Parties to the Convention: Assumptions, Conditions, Commonalities and Differences in Approaches and Comparison of the Level of Emission Reduction Efforts]