Senator Wong said Australia would not raise its target above 5 per cent until “global ambitions” became clear, including verifiable reductions from China and India.
In a letter to UN climate chief Yvo de Boer, US climate envoy Todd Stern said: “The US submission reflects President Obama’s continued commitment to meeting the climate change and clean energy challenge.
“We expect that all major economies will honour their agreement in Copenhagen to submit their mitigation targets or actions.” he said.
The summit asked nations to report by January 31 whether they would associate themselves with the accord and join efforts to draft a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, whose legal obligations run out at the end of 2012.