Cancun Agreements (Kyoto Protocol Track)

The Cancun Agreements, which resulted from the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference, consist of one agreement under the Kyoto Protocol track and one under the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action track. The Cancun Agreements under the Kyoto Protocol recognize the indication that achieving the lowest levels assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to date and its corresponding potential damage limitation would require Annex I Parties as a group to reduce emissions in a range of 25 to 40% below 1990 levels by 2020. Taking note of the quantified economy-wide emission reduction targets communicated and to be implemented by Annex I Parties, the agreements urged them to raise the level of ambition of the emission reductions to be achieved, to reduce their aggregate level of emissions. The agreements confirmed the availability of the international market mechanisms created under the Kyoto Protocol, namely joint implementation, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and emissions trading. CDM, in particular, was expanded to include carbon dioxide capture and storage in geological formation. The agreements further established a review and monitoring process for forest management reference levels.