By Theophilus Ikpome
Norway’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes well in advance of a new universal climate change agreement which will be reached at the UN climate conference in Paris in December this year.
Including the Norwegian submission, 31 parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs. This includes all the countries under the European Union plus the European Commission and Switzerland.
The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC is encouraging countries to come forward with their INDCs as soon as they are able, underlining their commitment and support towards this successful outcome in Paris.
Governments agreed to submit their INDCs in advance of Paris. Developed countries are expected to do so as soon as possible and some bigger developing countries are also likely to submit their INDCs well in advance.
INDCs have been chosen as the vehicle for national contributions to the international Paris agreement. They include, for example, details of emission reductions the country will undertake and can include other action plans covering areas such as adaptation to climate change.
Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time.
Countries under the UNFCCC have already finalized the negotiating text for the Paris agreement. The next round of formal negotiations will take place at UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, Germany, in June.
[…] this submission, US joined Switzerland, European Union (EU), Norway and Mexico — the countries that have, so far, committed their post-2020 climate action plan. […]
[…] Norway’s strict regulations to reach its Paris targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40%…has spurred the use of “environmental friendly and climate friendly technologies.” She added that these efforts have played a small part in Norway’s tremendous surplus. “You never miss up on a good opportunity with good environmental standards,” she said. […]