Government pledges to chop greenhouse gas emissions put the planet on target for a median 2.8 degrees Celsius temperature rise this century, after “woefully inadequate” progress to curb warming, a United Nations report said.
Representatives from all over the world will meet from Nov. 6 to 18 on the COP27 climate talks in Egypt to attempt to agree pledges to limit warming to below 2C above pre-industrial levels and ideally to 1.5C.
To this point, additional commitments for the reason that previous UN climate conference in Scotland last yr remove 0.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions (GtCO2e), lower than one per cent of estimated global emissions in 2030, the annual UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report showed on Thursday.
Policies in place, without strengthening, will likely result in a 2.8C rise in temperature by the top of the century, 0.1C higher than was estimated last yr.
“We had our probability to make incremental changes, but that point is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster,” UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said.
Global emissions in 2030 are estimated at 58 GtCO2e based on current policies. The gap between pledges and limiting warming to 2C is 15 GtCO2e a yr and for 1.5C it’s 23 GtCO2e a yr.
To limit warming to 1.5C, annual emissions should be reduced by 45 per cent compared with emissions forecasts under current policies currently in only eight years and remodeling the worldwide economy to low-carbon would require investment of at the least US$4-$6 trillion a yr, the report said.
In response to a separate UN report earlier this week analyzing the newest pledges submitted by countries, 2.5C of warming is probably going by the top of the century.
On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization said greenhouse gas concentrations climbed at above-average rates to recent records last yr.