PARIS, Feb 10, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Nearly all nations missed a UN deadline 
Monday to submit new targets for slashing carbon emissions, including major 
economies under pressure to show leadership following the US retreat on 
climate change.

Just 10 of nearly 200 countries required under the Paris Agreement to deliver 
fresh climate plans by February 10 did so on time, according to a UN 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 safer levels agreed under the Paris deal.

UN 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 US pledge is largely symbolic, made before President Donald Trump ordered 
Washington out of the Paris deal.

- Accountability -

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 
countries are taking climate change seriously and doing their fair share 
toward achieving the Paris goals.

The sluggish response will not ease fears of a possible backslide on climate 
action as leaders juggle Trump's return and other competing priorities from 
budget and security crises to electoral pressure.

Ebony Holland from the International Institute for Environment and 
Development said the US retreat was "clearly a setback" but there were many 
reasons for the tepid turnout. 

"It's clear there are some broad geopolitical shifts underway that are 
proving to be a challenge when it comes to international cooperation, 
especially on big issues like climate change," said Holland, a policy lead at 
the London-based think tank.

The EU, historically a leader on climate policy, has been delayed by 
elections and internal processes and is bracing for fresh polls in Germany 
and Poland.

An EU spokeswoman said a collective target for the 27-nation bloc would be 
unveiled "well ahead" of the UN COP30 climate conference in November.

"We will continue to be a leading voice for international climate action," 
she said.

Analysts say China -- both the world's biggest polluter and its largest 
renewable energy investor -- was also expected to release its much-
anticipated NDC in the second half of 2025.

The United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, Saint Lucia, New Zealand, Andorra, 
Switzerland and Uruguay rounded out the list of countries that made Monday's 
cut-off.

- Missing in action -

Evans Njewa, a Malawian diplomat and chair of the Least Developed Countries 
group, said many poorer nations lacked the financial resources and technical 
expertise to compile such complex, economy-wide policies.

"Big emitters, whose historical and ongoing pollution has driven the climate 
crisis, must take responsibility and lead by example," he told AFP.

Countries have been consistently late in filing periodic updates to their 
NDCs since the Paris accord was signed in 2015.

Last week, Stiell asked that countries turn in "first-rate" submissions by 
September so they could be properly assessed before the UN climate summit in 
Belem.

"The worsening climate crisis will not wait or pause its disastrous impact as 
nations delay their action plans," said Tracy Carty from Greenpeace 
International.

Linda Kalcher, executive director of the Strategic Perspectives think tank, 
said in some cases it was better that countries work on fine tuning quality 
proposals, rather than rushing out something weaker.

"The concern is that if too many countries delay, you could give the 
perception that they're not willing to act," she told AFP.