The United Nations Environment Program has published a new with even more dire news about our chances of avoiding climate disaster caused by greenhouse gas emissions. According to this assessment, the current trajectory of international commitments will cause the planet's temperature to rise by 2.6 degrees Celsius or more over the course of this century. That amount of temperature change would lead to more catastrophic and potentially deadly weather events.
UN members are due to submit their latest Nationally Determined Contributions before the COP30 conference in Brazil next year. The NDCs set out each country's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One part of the NDC aims to achieve the goal set by the Paris Agreement of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and one part aims to keep global temperature increases within a less ideal range. of 2 degrees Celsius. While the report says it is technically possible to meet the Paris Agreement goal, much greater action will be needed to reduce emissions by the amount needed.
“Further deployment of solar photovoltaic and wind energy technologies could generate 27 percent of the total emissions reduction potential in 2030 and 38 percent in 2035,” the report gives as an example of what is still needed. “Action on forests could generate around 20 percent of the potential in both years.”
“Every fraction of a degree avoided counts in terms of lives saved, economies protected, damage averted, biodiversity conserved, and the ability to rapidly reduce any excess temperatures,” wrote United Nations Environment Program Executive Director Inger Andersen. , in the prologue of the report.
International collaboration, government commitments and financial contributions will also be essential to get back on track towards the 2 degree or 1.5 degree targets. “G20 nations, particularly the highest-emitting members, would have to do the heavy lifting,” the report reads.
If this all sounds familiar, it's probably because, for now, the UN has issued the same stark warnings in each of its annual emissions reports. And other reports have echoed their calls, such as the damning one earlier this year that just 57 companies are responsible for 80 percent of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.
