28 March 2015 – Norway has submitted its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Norway’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes well in advance of a new universal climate change agreement which will be reached at the UN climate conference in Paris in December this year (COP21). INDCs include, for example, details of emission reductions the country will undertake.

Norway has committed to a target of an at least 40% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The emission reduction target will be developed into an emissions budget covering the period 2021-2030.

Including the Norwegian submission, 31 parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs. This includes all the countries under the European Union plus the European Commission and Switzerland.

The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.

Each stage brings progress

Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time.

The next round of formal negotiations will take place at UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, Germany, in June.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC is encouraging countries to come forward with their INDCs as soon as they are able, underlining their commitment and support towards this successful outcome in Paris.

Additional pressure from Cities

Thirty European cities committed in Paris on Thursday 26 March to slashing their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent as French President Francois Hollande called on them to back historic UN climate talks.

"I ask you to mobilise to the fullest extent in order to bring as much pressure to bear as necessary," to ensure an agreement is reached, Hollande said. "It's March and we know that time is running out," he added, warning that the danger would be to think "we have as much time as we want to reach an agreement."

"Large European cities must be pioneers in terms of bulk purchase of equipment, standards on traffic and support for low-emission creating businesses (and) green space," Hollande said.

All submitted INDCs are available on the UNFCCC website here.

See also the press release by the government of Norway on its INDC.

Picture; Naeroyfjord – Narrowest Fjord in Europe and on UNESCO’s World Heritage List - Ken Douglas