Almost all nations miss UN deadline for new climate targets

PARIS – Nearly all nations missed a United Nations deadline on Feb 10 to submit new targets for slashing carbon emissions, including major economies under pressure to show leadership following the US retreat on climate change.

Just 10 of nearly 200 countries required under the Paris Agreement to deliver fresh climate plans by Feb 10 did so on time, according to a UN database tracking the submissions.

Under the climate accord, each country is supposed to provide a steeper headline figure for cutting heat-trapping emissions by 2035, and a detailed blueprint for how to achieve this.

Global emissions

have been rising

but need to almost halve by the end of the decade to limit global warming to levels agreed under the Paris deal.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell has called this latest round of national pledges “the most important policy documents of this century”.

Yet, just a handful of major polluters handed in upgraded targets on time, with China, India and the European Union the biggest names on a lengthy absentee list.

Most Group of 20 economies were missing in action, with the US, Britain and Brazil – which is hosting the 2025 UN climate summit – the only exceptions.

The US pledge is largely symbolic, made before President Donald Trump ordered Washington out of the Paris deal.

Accountability measure

There is no penalty for submitting late targets, formally titled nationally determined contributions.

They are not legally binding but act as an accountability measure to ensure governments are taking the threat of climate change seriously.

Last week, Mr Stiell said submissions would be needed by September so they could be properly assessed before the UN COP30 climate conference in November.

A spokeswoman for the EU said the 27-nation bloc intended to submit its revised targets “well ahead” of the summit in Belem.

Analysts say China, the world’s biggest polluter and also its

largest investor in renewable energy

, is also expected to unveil its much-anticipated climate plan in the second half of 2025.

The United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, Saint Lucia, New Zealand, Andorra, Switzerland and Uruguay rounded out the list of countries that made the Feb 10 cut-off.

The sluggish response will not ease fears of a possible backslide on climate action as leaders juggle Mr Trump’s return and other competing priorities from budget and security crises to electoral pressure.

Ms Ebony Holland, from the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, said the US retreat was “clearly a setback”, but there were many reasons for the tepid turnout.

“It’s clear there are some broad geopolitical shifts underway that are proving to be a challenge when it comes to international cooperation, especially on big issues like climate change,” she said.
AFP