Climate Change

Despite the commitments made by world leaders at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, the world is not yet close to its goals of limiting global average temperature growth to pre-industrial levels, according to a new analysis by Climate Action Tracker (CAT). It is an international group of researchers to monitor actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the UN Environment Program has revised its climate estimates for 2021 and says that the countries’ current commitments will not reverse the global upward trend.

The new national climate commitments at COP26 on a stricter approach to climate change in this decade would lead to global warming of 2.4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. The threshold is well above the 1.5 degree Celsius limit, a target that the countries signing the Paris Climate Agreement committed in 2015, writes BBC News.

On Tuesday, the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) said that the promises of countries attending the UN summit in Glasgow to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 will continue to allow the Earth to warm well above the UN climate targets set by 2100.

Referring to the aspirational global average temperature target for pre-industrial levels set in 2015 in Paris, CAT representatives said that by 2030, global greenhouse gas emissions would continue to be twice as high as necessary. It is made to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.

All governments need to review their climate targets.

Climate Action Tracker experts said that "all governments need to review their climate goals." While long-term goals of some countries to stop rising gas levels with effect greenhouse gases would be implemented. Global warming could be limited to a level of 1.8 ℃ in this century.

However, representatives of the Climate Action Tracker warned of failing to meet the long-term environmental commitments of nations, as most countries have not yet implemented the necessary short-term policies or legislation for these purposes, notes >Reuters.

"It is excellent for leaders to claim that they have a net-zero target. But if they have no plans for getting there and their 2030 targets are low, this threshold called 'net zero' is just another statement. It does not turn into real action on climate change,” said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, one of CAT's organizations.

All the scenarios indicated by Climate Action Tracker point out that the 1.5 ℃ limits that scientists say are the level that the world must keep "alive" to prevent the most devastating effects of climate change.

To ensure that this goal is met, scientists say global emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide from burning coal, oil, and gas, must fall by at least 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach the zero-net emissions target by 2050.

CAT experts said that none of the new commitments are met, the world will warm by 2.7 ℃ this century. Greenpeace said the Climate Action Tracker's analysis is "devastating" and called on countries to agree to update their 2030 targets each year until the gap between their commitments and the target of maintaining the 1, 5 ℃ will be removed.

CAT also argues that the climate neutrality commitment currently covers about 90% of global emissions, but "most" of the plans that countries have committed to for the next decade are at odds with net-zero long-term targets of the 140 governments that have promised climate neutrality, only 40 have been assessed as having "acceptable" commitments.