UN report predicts climate catastrophe in the absence of significant action

 

UN report predicts climate catastrophe in the absence of significant action

A United Nations report shows catastrophe is gathering pace unless countries take swift and dramatic action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The report's central message is that global warming is happening more quickly, with impacts getting worse faster than most previous models predicted. During the next five years, there is a 40 % chance that the world may break through the 1.5°C thresholds of warming previously set by scientists and world governments as the hoped-for limit.

Already, the United Nations reports that "global average surface temperatures for the period from 2017 to 2021 are among the warmest on record, estimated at 1.06°C to 1.27°C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900)."

With frequent and extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, and hurricanes, the impact is felt sooner than many expected.

The measures promised by countries at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris are insufficient, according to the new report and other recent studies by NGOs, because they would leave the world on a path of at least 2.7°C of warming by the century. End.

Moreover, global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. The most prevalent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, peaked in 2019 and only declined in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But just as important as making those commitments is that governments pursue and implement the policies that will get them to reach those emissions reduction targets. As the United Nations summary of the conclusions explained, "Although the growing number of countries committing to net zero emissions targets is encouraging, to remain feasible and credible, these goals urgently need to be reflected in short-term policy and much more ambitious actions." "