United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change - Annex I, Annex II Countries and Developing Countries

Annex I, Annex II Countries and Developing Countries

Parties to UNFCCC are classified as:

• Annex I countries: industrialized countries and economies in transition
• Annex II countries: developed countries which pay for costs of developing countries
• Non Annex I countries: Developing countries.

Annex I countries which have ratified the Protocol have committed to reduce their emission levels of greenhouse gasses to targets that are mainly set below their 1990 levels. They may do this by allocating reduced annual allowances to the major operators within their borders. These operators can only exceed their allocations if they buy emission allowances, or offset their excesses through a mechanism that is agreed by all the parties to UNFCCC.

Annex II countries are a sub-group of the Annex I countries. They comprise the OECD members, excluding those that were economies in transition in 1992.

Developing countries are not required to reduce emission levels unless developed countries supply enough funding and technology. Setting no immediate restrictions under UNFCCC serves three purposes:

• it avoids restrictions on their development, because emissions are strongly linked to industrial capacity
• they can sell emissions credits to nations whose operators have difficulty meeting their emissions targets
• they get money and technologies for low-carbon investments from Annex II countries.

Developing countries may volunteer to become Annex I countries when they are sufficiently developed.