Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancún Agreements

This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute compares greenhouse gas mitigation pledges made by developed (Annex 1) and developing (non-Annex 1) countries under the Copenhagen Accord and Cancún Agreements. By analyzing four detailed studies, the brief concludes that developing countries have pledged more absolute mitigation than developed countries, yet global pledges remain insufficient to limit warming to 2°C.

• Analysis of four separate studies reveals a consistent conclusion that developing country pledges represent a greater amount of absolute mitigation than those of developed countries. This result holds true across 12 different cases regardless of the diverse assumptions or methodologies used in the studies.
• Current global mitigation pledges are insufficient to meet the 2°C objective of the Cancún Agreements. Depending on the study, these pledges are consistent with a global temperature increase ranging from 2.5°C to 5°C by the end of the century.
• The actual mitigation achieved by Annex 1 countries could be significantly reduced by the use of accounting loopholes. These include lenient rules regarding land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF), the use of surplus emission allowances from the Kyoto Protocol, and the double-counting of offsets.
• Developed countries hold a disproportionate share of the responsibility and capacity to address climate change. They are responsible for over 75% of historical emissions and control approximately three-quarters of global GDP, or roughly six-sevenths of the world's discretionary GDP.
• While developed countries must increase their ambition based on science and equity, they cannot prevent dangerous climate change alone. Developing countries also need to raise their ambition, which can be supported through international financial and technological cooperation.

APA

Kartha, S., & Erickson, P. (2011). Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancún Agreements. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2011-Comparison-of-Pledges.pdf

Chicago

Kartha, Sivan, and Peter Erickson. Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancún Agreements. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2011. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2011-Comparison-of-Pledges.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kartha |first1=Sivan |last2=Erickson |first2=Peter |title=Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancún Agreements |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2011 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2011-Comparison-of-Pledges.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kartha2011comparison, author = {Kartha, Sivan and Erickson, Peter}, title = {{Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancún Agreements}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2011}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2011-Comparison-of-Pledges.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }