1 February 2010: Following the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, which took place in December 2009, the UNFCCC Secretariat has announced that it has received submissions of pledges to cut and limit greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 from 55 countries.
These countries together account for 78% of global emissions from energy use. Welcoming the pledges, Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, noted that they represent “an important invigoration of the UN climate change talks under the two tracks of Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol.” However, he stressed the need for “greater ambition” in order to “meet the scale of the challenge.” The Secretariat has also published the communications by developing countries on their nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs), and has indicated it will continue to maintain and update the two lists. [List of Mid-Term Targets of Industrialized Countries] [Communication by Developing Countries on Their Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions] [UNFCCC Press Release]