There is no reliable way to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to a new UN environment report. And if you live in an urban area, you can easily confirm this by going outside. See all those cars and planes? Clearly, the world is not on track to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. That’s seven years and two months away.
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The report analyzes the gap between countries’ pledges to reduce CO2 and the cuts needed to meet the 1.5C target. The verdict? Woefully inadequate.
Related: The world is failing to curb global warming
“The report shows that updated national pledges after COP26 – held in 2021 in Glasgow, UK – make little difference to projected 2030 emissions and that we are far from the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius,” according to the UN website.
Instead, current policies to reduce carbon emissions will deliver an additional 2.8 degrees Celsius. Great news for cockroaches and rats waiting to take over the land.
“This report tells us in cold scientific terms what nature has been telling us all year through deadly floods, storms and raging fires: We need to stop filling our atmosphere with greenhouse gases, and stop doing it fast,” said Inger Andersen. , executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), as reported by The Guardian. “We had the chance to make incremental changes, but that time has run out. Only a fundamental transformation of our economies and societies can save us from an accelerating climate catastrophe.”
To date, a rise of one degree Celsius has caused climate disasters in many places, including Pakistan and Puerto Rico.
“It’s a lofty and some would say impossible goal to reform the global economy and almost halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but we have to try,” Andersen said. “Every part of the degree matters: to vulnerable communities, to ecosystems and to each of us.”
What will it take? The report says government action, changing consumer behavior and reorienting the global financial system are needed. Massive transformations in food production are needed, such as changes in agricultural subsidies, reduction of food waste and development of low-carbon foods. Then there’s electricity and transportation, which gobble up fossil fuels. Meanwhile, cockroaches are rubbing their dirty little front legs in anticipation of world domination.
Through The Guardian and UN News
Lead image via Pexels
