“WE’RE JUST SO FAR OFF TRACK, IT’S REALLY DISCOURAGING.”
Next month, world leaders will meet at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) to assess the climate crisis. And it sounds like the summit is likely to take an even more urgent tone after the UN dropped two reports that send a clear message: nations simply aren’t doing enough to avert climate disaster.
It finds each country’s action plans – known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) – only knock 7.5% off predicted 2030 emissions, but 55% is needed to meet the 1.5C goal. Beyond 1.5C, more severe impacts of climate change kick in, from extreme weather to rising sea levels.
Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP said we have eight years to “make the plans, put in place the policies, implement them and ultimately deliver the cuts. The clock is ticking loudly.”
Emissions are slated to increase by roughly 16 percent by the decade’s end, according to an updated report from the UN synthesizing the emission goals of 192 nations released Monday. The report found that current commitments pledged by countries aren’t doing nearly enough to meet these challenges. It adds that global temperatures will rise by 4.9 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century if we remain on our current trajectory.
“[The] message from this update is loud and clear: Parties must urgently redouble their climate efforts if they are to prevent global temperature increases beyond the Paris Agreement’s goal of well below 2C — ideally 1.5C — by the end of the century,” Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of UN Climate Change, said in a press release.
She added that failure to meet these goals “will lead to a destabilized world and endless suffering.”
Emissions Gap
The UN also released its annual Emissions Gap Report on Tuesday that stressed that all G20 nations need to set more ambitious goals towards net-zero emissions.
“We’re just so far off track, it’s really discouraging,” Drew Shindell, an earth science professor at Duke University and co-author of the Emissions Gap Report, told The Washington Post.
The report estimated that the new goals set by 120 nations might result in a 7.5 percent drop in emissions by 2030. However, it needs to fall roughly seven times that amount to hit the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Together, the two reports paint a dire picture of the climate crisis. Not enough is being done to address it, despite melting glaciers and weather disasters. There’s some hope that COP26 might result in more ambitious goals — but we wouldn’t hold our breath.
The Emissions Gap Report also found the world is facing at least 2.7C of heating this century based on the latest climate promises for 2030. Next week leaders will meet for climate talks at COP26, which aims to “keep 1.5°C alive”.