Designing National Commitments to Drive Measurable Emissions Reductions After 2020

The paper analyzes the measurability of various national commitment types—including economy-wide versus sectoral goals and absolute versus relative targets—to provide guidance for UNFCCC Parties negotiating the 2015 climate agreement. It argues that to maximize transparency and accountability, countries should prioritize economy-wide goals, base-year or fixed-level targets, and multi-year timeframes over single-year or baseline-scenario goals.

• To achieve the highest level of measurability, countries should prioritize economy-wide goals over sectoral ones. For those utilizing sectoral goals, the focus should be on the highest-emitting sector to ensure meaningful reductions.
• Commitments should be structured as reductions from a base year or to a fixed level. This applies even to emerging economies that may experience short-term emissions increases, which should still be framed as an increase from a base year.
• Intensity goals are preferable to baseline scenario goals due to the latter's measurability challenges. However, from 2030 onward, countries with relative goals should transition to absolute goals based on a fixed level or base year.
• Multi-year goals are superior to single-year goals for both economy-wide and sectoral commitments. For short-term growth, peak-and-decline pathways are preferred to make emissions trajectories transparent and cumulative emissions assessable; these should aim for a global peak by 2020 and reductions below 1990 levels by 2030 to limit warming to 2°C.
• Because policies and projects present measurability challenges, Parties should implement standardized methods for attributing emissions changes, report on leakage, and prioritize policies that enable long-term transformation in carbon-intensive sectors.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Designing National Commitments to Drive Measurable Emissions Reductions After 2020. https://www.wri.org/research/designing-national-commitments-drive-measurable-emissions-reductions-after-2020

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Designing National Commitments to Drive Measurable Emissions Reductions After 2020. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/designing-national-commitments-drive-measurable-emissions-reductions-after-2020.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Designing National Commitments to Drive Measurable Emissions Reductions After 2020 |url=https://www.wri.org/research/designing-national-commitments-drive-measurable-emissions-reductions-after-2020 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutenddesigning, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Designing National Commitments to Drive Measurable Emissions Reductions After 2020}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/designing-national-commitments-drive-measurable-emissions-reductions-after-2020}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }