Governments are making insufficient progress in slashing greenhouse gas emissions to avert the worst impacts of global warming, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday.
The report comes just weeks before world leaders are due to gather in Dubai for the annual U.N. climate conference COP28 which will see governments push for greater climate action, including a possible phaseout of fossil fuels before 2050.
“COP28 must be a historic turning point in this critical decade,” said Sultan al-Jaber, chief of the UAE’s state oil firm who will preside over the talks.
Under current national climate plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), emissions can be expected to rise 9% above 2010 levels by the end of this decade even if NDCs are fully implemented, the report found.
Greenhouse gas emissions would fall to 2% below 2019 levels by 2030, the report added, indicating the world will see emissions peak this decade.
That’s still far short of the 43% reduction against 2019 levels that the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is needed to stay within the 1.5 degrees Celsius target envisioned by the Paris Agreement.
“Global ambition stagnated over the past year and national climate plans are strikingly misaligned with the science,” said U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres. “The chasm between need and action is more menacing than ever.”
Source: Reuters
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