Copenhagen climate accord an imp document: US

The US will associate itself with the Copenhagen climate accord even if India and China do not do so, top US Climate envoy said today, as he described it is an important document though it was not formally adopted.

"Copenhagen Accord, we think is a very important document that was produced very importantly through the intervention of leaders, a great number of leaders from countries there.

It was, at the end of the day, not formally adopted as a decision of the Conference of the Parties, but was supported by overwhelming number of them," Stern said.

Special US Envoy on Climate Change, Todd Stern said that "India and China, so far, have not clearly associated themselves with the accord, which the United Nations is trying to seek clarification from them." The US will associate itself with the accord.

The fact that it wasn't formally adopted has led to a process since Copenhagen where countries essentially conveyed to the secretariat of the UN convention their interest in being part of it; the UN term is to associate itself with the accord, he said.

Stern said about 100 countries have indicated they want to be part of the accord, and more are expected to join.

"In addition, the major countries, major economies have submitted their targets or actions that they plan to take to reduce emissions. So this is the developed countries and the major developing countries. That was supposed to happen by January 31stand it did," he said.

"The objective, as stated in the convention, is essentially to avoid dangerous climate change and the Copenhagen Accord quantifies that by talking about limiting the increase in temperature to 2 degrees Centigrade

It includes a pledge by the major economies to submit their targets and actions.

It includes important stuff on important language on transparency, important provisions on financing, and on technology.

So in all in all, I think a very important step forward," Stern argued.

"The going forward this year, I think will be a combination of both of making elements of the accord operational as well as further discussions under the umbrella of the UN Framework Convention toward additional agreements in Mexico," Stern said.