UN warns of global warming tragedy
Print Edition
THE world is nowhere near on track to achieve the ambitious temperature goals adopted in the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, the UN said yesterday in a sobering report that warned of a human tragedy unless governments stepped up efforts to fight global warming.
The UN Environment Program said the world needs to slash its annual greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 12-14 billion tons by 2030 to have a chance of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. That’s the temperature goal that countries agreed to in the Paris pact, which takes effect today after countries ratified it much faster than anticipated.
To put the challenge into perspective, UNEP noted that the gap is 12 times the annual emissions of the 28-nation European Union’s transport sector, including aviation.
“The science shows that we need to move much faster,” said UNEP leader Erik Solheim. “The growing numbers of climate refugees hit by hunger, poverty, illness and conflict will be a constant reminder of our failure to deliver.”
Solheim said increased efforts by governments need to start with the UN climate conference being held over the coming two weeks in Marrakech, Morocco.
The 2-degree target is relative to before the industrial revolution, when scientists say humans started altering the climate system by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, primarily carbon dioxide from fossil fuels. Temperatures have already gone up by about 1 degree since then.
In its annual emissions report, UNEP projected that annual emissions cannot exceed 42 billion tons of CO2 by 2030 for the world to have a chance to meet the 2-degree goal. But even with the reductions pledged for the Paris Agreement, emissions are set to reach 54-56 billion tons in 2030, which leaves the world on a path of 2.9-3.4 degrees of warming, UNEP said.
Last year was the warmest on record and this year is on track to be even warmer, preliminary analyses show.
Scientists say the buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is raising temperatures by trapping heat in the atmosphere. As a result, glaciers and ice sheets are melting, sea levels are rising and many parts of the world are experiencing more intense heatwaves and droughts.
The 2-degree target was established as a threshold to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But the Paris deal also set an aspirational goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a demand from the most vulnerable countries, such as low-lying island nations that may not survive the sea-level rise associated with 2 degrees of warming.
To have a shot at 1.5 degrees, the world needs to slash annual emissions by an additional 15-17 billion tons by 2030, the UNEP report said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
