A group of 12 sub-national governments collectively representing more than $4.5 trillion in GDP and 100 million people have signed Under 2 MOU, which is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that commits them to take leadership on climate action at their level of jurisdiction.

The signatories include: California, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, USA; Acre, Brazil; Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Baja California and Jalisco, Mexico; Catalonia, Spain; Ontario and British Columbia, Canada and Wales, UK.

The agreement identifies action being taken and promotes greater ambition on climate change than is currently being contemplated in the international process leading to the Paris climate change conference at the end of this year.

Each signatory commits to limit emissions to below eighty to ninety-five percent below 1990 levels, or below two metric tons per capita, by 2050 – which is a level of emission reductions believed to be necessary to limit global warming to less than 2°C by the end of this century.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said: "Science clearly underlines that to stay under a 2 degrees C temperature rise and spare the world and its people from dangerous climate change, a long term aim is needed--one that leads to a deep, decarbonisation of the global economy while triggering the financial and technical support that will assist developing economies to engage, grow and develop. The Under2 initiative supports this reality and I congratulate those launching the initiative including leaders from California and Baden-Wurttemberg for putting their efforts behind this aim of a super low emission future by the second half of the century--it represents yet another positive signal towards a transformational Paris agreement."

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Photo credit: California Governor office.