Almost all nations miss new new climate targets decline

NEW YORK

Nearly all nations missed a U.N. deadline on Monday to submit new targets for slashing carbon emissions, including major economies under pressure to show leadership following the U.S. 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 U.N. 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.

U.N. 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 G20 economies were missing in action with the United States, Britain and Brazil, which is hosting this year's UN climate summit, the only exceptions.

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

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

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