The entire world is on track for a catastrophic 3C increase in climate levels, the United Nations has warned, as Dubai sets to host the vital Cop28 summit.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said countries must use the upcoming event to commit to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 and to phasing out fossil fuels within a clear and definable timeframe.
He said the recent climate agreement between China and the US was a positive step, but that much more needed to be done to restore trust between developed and developing countries, after broken promises on delivering billions of dollars of climate aid.
‘Present trends are racing our planet down a dead-end 3C temperature rise. This is a failure of leadership, a betrayal of the vulnerable, and a massive missed opportunity’
UN Secretary General António Guterres
Guterres said: ‘Present trends are racing our planet down a dead-end 3C temperature rise. This is a failure of leadership, a betrayal of the vulnerable, and a massive missed opportunity. Renewables have never been cheaper or more accessible. We know it is still possible to make the 1.5 degree limit a reality. It requires tearing out the poisoned root of the climate crisis – fossil fuels.
‘Leaders must drastically up their game, now, with record ambition, record action, and record emissions reductions. No more greenwashing. No more foot-dragging.’
A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has predicted that current emission-cutting policies are so inadequate that the 3C figure would be reached this century.
It said that implementing future policies already promised by countries would cut 0.1C off the 3C limit. Putting in place emissions cuts pledged by developing countries on condition of receiving financial and technical support would cut the temperature rise to 2.5C.
To get on track for the agreed target of 1.5C, 22bn tonnes of CO2 must be cut … equivalent to the output of the world’s five worst polluters China, USA, India, Russia and Japan
To get on track for the internationally agreed target of 1.5C, 22bn tonnes of CO2 must be cut from the currently projected total in 2030, the report said. That is 42 per cent of global emissions and equivalent to the output of the world’s five worst polluters – China, USA, India, Russia and Japan.
COP28 Must Lead The Change
Inger Andersen, Unep Executive Director, said: ‘There is no person or economy left on the planet untouched by climate change, so we need to stop setting unwanted records on emissions, temperature and extreme weather. We must instead lift the needle out of the same old groove of insufficient action, and start setting other records: on cutting emissions and on climate finance.’
None of the G20 countries, which together produce 80 per cent of CO2, are reducing emissions at a pace consistent with their net zero targets,
The report, titled Broken Record, said that if all the long-term pledges by countries to cut emissions to net zero by 2050 were achieved, then the global temperature rise could be limited to 2C. However, it concluded that these net zero pledges ‘are not currently considered credible’. None of the G20 countries, which together produce 80 per cent of CO2, are reducing emissions at a pace consistent with their net zero targets, it said.
Another study by UN Climate Change found that existing national pledges to cut emissions would mean global emissions in 2030 were two per cent below 2019 levels, rather than the 42 per cent cut required to limit global heating to 1.5C.
Cranking up the temperature of the entire globe this much within little more than a century sees the oceans alone absorbing the heat equivalent of five Hiroshima atomic bombs dropping into the water every second
The world has already heated up by around 1.2C, on average, since the preindustrial era, pushing humanity beyond almost all historical boundaries. Cranking up the temperature of the entire globe this much within little more than a century sees the oceans alone absorbing the heat equivalent of five Hiroshima atomic bombs dropping into the water every second.
‘Governments are taking baby steps to avert the climate crisis – they [must] make bold strides forward at Cop28 in Dubai to get on track,’ said Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of UN Climate Change.
Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who will preside over Cop28, said: ‘There is simply no time left for delays. Cop28 must be a historic turning point in this critical decade for [countries] to seize the moment to commit to raise their ambition and to unite, act and deliver outcomes that keep 1.5C within reach, while leaving no one behind.’
