The UNFCCC will present a new report at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) that highlights both progress and gaps as developed countries implement climate actions to meet their targets in the period before 2020.
The report finds that between 1990 and 2016, greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries decreased by 13%. It also highlights that since 2010, emissions by these countries have decreased by 4.4%, likely due in part to climate actions that more than offset the impact of economic and population growth.
The report also finds that emission reduction measures by developed countries have increased and are paying off. This is an important foundation for accelerated climate action beyond 2020 under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
Moreover, increasing levels of financial support provided by developed countries to developing countries could provide an incentive for a shift towards a low-emission and climate-resilient development pathway.
Financial support by developed countries reached 49.4 billion US dollars in 2016. This financial support increased by 13 per cent between the 2013/2014 and the 2015/2016 reporting periods.
Additionally, technology transfer and capacity-building support is beginning to lay the foundation for developing countries’ climate action beyond 2020.
Yet the report also clearly establishes that some developed countries are ahead of their targets, while others are behind. The full implementation of available measures and policies would be a critically important step for those countries to make progress.
The so-called “Compilation and Synthesis” report by the UNFCCC secretariat is based on reporting that developed countries are obliged to undertake every two years.
For easy access to the information, the UNFCCC has prepared an overview of key messages, which can be accessed here.
The full report can be read here.
Source: Press release United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 06.12.2018