The Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa on December 18, and judged a "meaningful agreement" by the United States government. It was "taken note of", but not "adopted", in a debate of all the participating countries the next day, and it was not passed unanimously. The document recognised that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the present and that actions should be taken to keep any temperature increases to below 2°C. The document is not legally binding and does not contain any legally binding commitments for reducing CO₂ emissions.^[9] Leaders of industrialised countries, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, were pleased with this agreement but many leaders of other countries and non-governmental organisations were opposed to it.

Proposed changes in absolute emissions
Area	1990→2020	Reference base
Norway	−30% to −40%	CO2e w/o LULUCF
Japan	−25%
EU	−20 to −30%	CO2e w/o LULUCF @ 20%
		CO2e w/- LULUCF @ 30%
Russia	−20 to −25%
South Africa	−18%
Iceland	−15%	CO2e w/- LULUCF
New Zealand	−10 to −20%	CO2e w/- COP15 LULUCF
Australia	−4 to −24%	CO2e w/o LULUCF
	−15 to −33%	CO2e w/- human LULUCF
United States	−4%	CO2e w/o LULUCF
Canada	−3%	CO2e (LULUCF undecided)
Brazil	+5 to −1.8%
Area	2005→2020	Reference base
China	−40 to −45% (per GDP)	CO2 emissions intensity
India	−20 to −25% (per GDP)	CO2e emissions intensity