6 December 2009: On the eve of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, launched an analysis of emission reduction proposals. The analysis, titled “Action and Ambition for a Global Deal in Copenhagen,” sets out an assessment of the latest national positions regarding emission reduction targets and actions going into the negotiations in Copenhagen.

These targets and intentions are quantified and translated into global emissions to provide an understanding of the likelihood of reaching an agreement consistent with keeping an increase in temperature below two degrees Celsius. The analysis finds that the gap between countries’ strongest proposed cuts and what is needed to reach the two degree target may be only a few billion tons of greenhouse gases.

UNEP notes that the emissions reductions gap scenario identified by the analysis requires a number of conditions be met, including that: developed countries provide developing countries with the “right” level of financial and technical support for both emissions reductions and adaptation; and that countries deliver on their commitments and intentions, and interpret the actions of others as sufficient to meet any conditions they may have set. [UNEP Press Release][The Report]