https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/26/us/climate-change-un-emissions-report-2019-trnd/index.html
By Scottie Andrew, CNN
Updated 9:25 AM ET, Tue November 26, 2019
(CNN)A new United Nations report paints a bleak picture: The commitments countries pledged to limit the climate crisis are nowhere near enough to stave off record-high temperatures. Delaying change any further will make it impossible to reach desired temperature goals.
The time for “rapid and transformational” change to limit global warming is now, the report says.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) 2019 Emissions Gap report calls on countries to strengthen the commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement to stall climate change.
Current measures will not keep global temperature increases within the 1.5-to-2-degree Celsius range (a “safe” level to which temperatures can rise and not cause devastation, though 1.5 degrees is preferable), according to the report issued Tuesday.
Greenhouse gases reached a record high in 2018 with no sign of peaking, according to a World Meteorological Organization report released Monday. Carbon dioxide levels reached 407.8 parts per million, a unit used to measure the level of a contaminant in the air.
At the current rate, temperatures are expected to rise 3.2 degrees Celsius (5.8 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100, the UNEP report states.
The changes the UNEP suggests are extreme: To get Earth back on track to the 1.5-degree goal, countries must multiply their commitment level, or the level at which they pledge to reduce their emissions, five times the current rates outlined in the Paris accords.
That means global greenhouse gas emissions must fall at least 7.6% every year to remove 32 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Incremental change is no longer enough to stall off the potentially devastating effects of a changing climate, the report’s authors write.
What the world needs now, they say, is “rapid and transformational action.”
G20 nations emit majority of the world’s greenhouse gases
September’s UN Climate Action Summit saw some commitment from countries to advance their carbon neutrality efforts. But most of the G20 nations were visibly absent from the events, and their likely impact on emissions gap will be insufficient, the report said.
G20 countries account for 78% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but only five of 20 member countries have set a date to reach net-zero emissions by. Of those, only two have created legislation to enforce those goals.
The US leads G20 countries in per-capita emissions, excluding greenhouse gases from land use, at just above 20 tons of carbon dioxide per capita in 2018.