Developed countries set to widen the emissions gap

Three days before the end of the climate talks in Cancun, options are still on the table to widen the emissions gap between countries’ targets and what is needed to limit warming to below 2°C or 1.5°C.
The bad news: The current negotiating texts for forests and for the use of allowances after 2012, which were originally meant to be used before that date, will significantly weaken the ambition level of developed countries emission reduction targets, according to the latest analysis by the ‘Climate Action Tracker’, an online climate policy assessment system.
The good news: Countries in Cancun still have the chance to narrow the gap between their existing aggregate reduction proposals and what is necessary to limit global temperature increase to 2°C or lower. According to the Climate Action Tracker, this gap is currently 8 to 12 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions per year (GtCO2eq/yr) in 2020.