Nearly 100 Countries Formally ‘Associate’ with Copenhagen Accord — What other choice do they have?  It’s the only agreement going forward that exists, for now.

Image credit: america.gov/Flickr

By Jacob Werksman, WRI

In the months following the Copenhagen climate conference, where the Conference of Parties “took note” of the Copenhagen Accord, governments and commentators have been debating the legal status of this unique document.

The Accord was agreed upon by a subset of the UNFCCC parties, but it lacked the consensus required to be formally adopted by the Conference of Parties. The unusual circumstances left unclear which governments supported the Accord, which governments did not, whether some or all of its provisions could become “operational immediately,” and which would require further actions.

Shortly after COP-15, the UNFCCC Secretariat, with support from the UN Secretary General and the Danish COP Presidency, wrote to the UNFCCC parties and requested that they notify each other what targets for Annex I (developed) countries and actions for non-Annex I (developing) countries they were willing to put forward in response to the Accord. The Secretariat’s letter also requested that parties indicate if they wished to “associate” with the Accord and have their country’s name listed in the final version of the Accord’s opening paragraph.. . . .

As of [March 24th], a total of 73 countries — 40 Annex I and 33 non-Annex I countries (including Kazakhstan) — have submitted targets or actions to the Secretariat. Of these, 64 have explicitly associated themselves with the Accord.

An additional 35 countries have explicitly associated themselves with the Accord but have not submitted targets or actions.

13 countries — including Brazil, Croatia, China, India, Namibia, and Palau — have expressed support for the Accord without “associating” with it, as further discussed below.

4 countries — the Cook Islands, Kuwait, Nauru and Ecuador — have submitted letters to the UNFCCC not associating with or supporting the Accord.

5 countries — an interesting combination of small island and oil exporting countries — have notified the Secretariat that they will not associate with the Accord.”

Source: Solve Climate