As called for in the Copenhagen agreement, most participating nations reiterated their greenhouse gas emissions goals by the January 31 deadline.
The U.N. Climate Change Secretariat will publish the list of promises this week. However, as noted time and time again by scientists and environmentalists, the total of proposed emissions cuts is much too small to head off worst-case climate change scenarios.
Of all major developed countries, only Japan and Norway have pledged sufficient cuts, according to an analyst with climate consultants Ecofys (Reuters reporting).
Climate Negotiations May Push Into 2011
International climate change negotiations may not wrap up this year, despite pressure to reach a binding agreement by the end-of-the-year conference in Mexico.
"Whether we can achieve that in Mexico or need a bit more time remains to be seen and will become clearer in the course of the year," Yvo de Boer, the UN’s top climate official, said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (Reuters reporting).
IMF Developing ‘Green Fund’ Plans
The International Monetary Fund is working on a plan to set up a "green fund" to disburse the billions of dollars pledged by developed nations during the Copenhagen conference to assist adaptation and mitigation in poor countries.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said they are considering employing allocations of special drawing rights (SDRs)–an idea originally proposed by George Soros on the sidelines of the Copenhagen conference.
Last year IMF member countries agreed to allow $250 billion in SDR’s in response to the worldwide economic downturn.
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