FACTBOX-Industrialised nations plan 11-15 percent CO2 cuts

Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:13pm EDT

Sept 28 (Reuters) - Delegates from about 190 nations are meeting in Bangkok on Monday to try to speed up talks on a global pact to fight climate change, with pledges by most rich nations to cut emissions by 2020 seen as too little too late.

A plan by Japan's prime minister-elect to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 would take overall reductions by all industrialised nations to a maximum of 15 percent, Reuters calculations show.

The reductions are less than cuts of between 25 and 40 percent by 2020 outlined by a U.N. panel of climate experts in 2007 to avoid the worst of global warming such as droughts, heatwaves, species extinctions and rising seas.

Yukio Hatoyama said earlier this month the Japanese goal, more ambitious than the outgoing government's eight percent target, depended on other major nations signing up for ambitious goals under a new U.N. climate deal due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December.

A 25 percent cut by Japan [ID:nLB274102] deepens total offers on the table so far by all industrialised nations to between 11 and 15 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, against 10 to 14 percent under the former Japanese plan.

To reach 25 percent, developed nations would have to cut by an extra 1.8 billion tonnes -- more than the annual emissions of Canada and France -- on top of the most ambitious plans so far.

Emissions of greenhouse gases (millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents unless stated):

2006 1990 2020 cut vs 1990 2020

(percent) min cut max cut Australia 599.0 552.6 -3 to -23 537.8 424.6 Belarus 81.0 127.4 -5 to -10 121.0 114.6 Canada 720.6 592.3 -3 576.5 576.5 EU 5,131.5 5,565.8 -20 to -30 4,452.6 3,896.0 Iceland 4.2 3.4 -15 2.9 2.9 Japan 1,340.1 1,272.1 -25 954.1 954.1 Liechtenstein 0.3 0.2 -20 to -30 0.2 0.2 Monaco 0.1 0.1 -20 0.1 0.1 New Zealand 77.9 61.9 -10 to -20 55.8 49.6 Norway 53.5 49.7 -30 34.8 34.8 Russia 2,190.2 3,326.4 -10 to -15 2,993.8 2,827.4 Switzerland 53.2 52.8 -20 to -30 42.2 37.0 Ukraine 443.2 922.0 -20 737.6 737.6 U.S. 7,006.0 6,084.5 0 6,084.5 6,084.5 TOTAL 17,700.8 18,611.2 -11 to -15 16,593.9 15,739.9 TOTAL (excluding U.S.)

10,694.8 12,526.7 -16 to -23 10,509.3 9,655.3 TOTAL NEEDED TO MATCH U.N. CLIMATE PANEL'S TOUGHEST SCENARIO:

18,611.2 -25 to -40 13,958.4 11,166.7

NOTES: All cuts are adjusted to a 1990 base year -- Australia's official target is to cut by 5 to 25 percent from 2000 levels, Canada to cut 20 percent from 2006. The U.S. target is based on President Barack Obama's plan to cut U.S. emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

Figures exclude LULUCF (land use, land use change and forestry), but include deforestation, in line with rules under the Kyoto Protocol. (Sources - U.N. Climate Change Secretariat document based on national submissions. Exceptions are Japanese plans, which are based on the incoming government's announcement. The United States is outside the existing Kyoto Protocol so U.S. data are from its annual official accounting). (For Reuters latest environment blogs click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/)