USA submits its Climate Action Plan: 2015 Paris Agreement

United States Submits its Climate Action Plan ahead of 2015 Paris Agreement

Bonn, 31 March 2015 – The United States has submitted its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This 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.

The US INDC also includes a cover note and additional information. This INDC and all others submitted by countries are available on the UNFCCC website here.

Including the United States submission, 33 parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs, covering all the countries under the European Union plus the European Commission, Mexico, Norway 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 more, bigger developing countries are also likely to submit their INDCs well in advance. All information such as documentation on designing and preparing INDCs as well as on sources of support for INDC preparation, is available here.

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 their negotiating text for the Paris agreement and formal negotiations will continue on the basis of this text at the next UN climate change meeting in Bonn from 1 to 11 June. The text covers the options on the substantive content of the new agreement including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, capacity building, and transparency of action and support. (See the full negotiating text here.)

ENDS

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