BRUSSELS (Wall Street Journal)--Fifty five countries have submitted to the United Nations their pledges to limit greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, after they were asked to send in their commitments by the end of January, the UN said late Monday.

These countries account for 78% of global CO2 emissions from energy use, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN body leading the negotiations for an international agreement on how to limit global warming, said in a statement.
“Greater ambition is required to meet the scale of the (climate change) challenge, but I see these pledges as clear signals of willingness to move negotiations towards a successful conclusion,” Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC executive secretary, said in the statement.
After two weeks of talks in Copenhagen in December at a UN-sponsored conference with more than 190 governments, some countries agreed to a light political accord, called the Copenhagen Accord, which asked countries to submit their pledges in cutting carbon dioxide emissions, or in limiting their growth, by Jan. 31.
De Boer later said the deadline was “soft,” and he expects some governments won't meet it, but will likely still submit pledges later in the year.
Major emitters and growing economies such as China, the U.S., the European Union, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa have all submitted their pledges, the UNFCCC said in the statement.
These pledges remain national targets, and their communication to the UN won't create an international obligation for governments to meet them.
The Copenhagen Accord is seen as a basis for future negotiations on a potential international agreement on how to limit global warming, even though the Copenhagen summit was a big disappointment for many, because countries weren't able to agree on any substantial step--such a long-term targets--in reducing CO2 emissions.