Facts4Paris: There are 16 INDCs for the top 20 emitters—those missing are: international shipping, Iran, Saudi Arabia and international aviation.
We ranked all 195 Parties to the UNFCCC according to their greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 including the two main sectors that were left out of the Kyoto Protocol: international shipping and international aviation. Both of these are big emitters with rapidly growing emissions and are two of the four INDCs missing from the top 20 emitters.
In order of total emissions:
- International shipping accounts for more emissions than the whole of the UK or Australia, yet the International Maritime Organisation has presented only a greenhouse gas study without firm targets.
- Iran was the 17th biggest emitter in 2010 and has not submitted an INDC.
- Saudi Arabia was the 19th biggest emitter in 2010 and has not submitted an INDC.
- The International Civil Aviation Organisation, the body that controls international aviation, has put forward a carbon-neutral growth pledge after 2020 (although the details and binding nature of that target are unclear, see here) but this pledge is outside the UNFCCC.
In summary, we have two countries and two sectors within the top 20 emitters for which the UNFCCC cannot quantify emissions reduction efforts post-2020. Together these four represented 4.9% of global emissions in 2010.