National pledges to reduce harmful emission offer little hope of avoiding climate disaster, UN climate experts said on Thursday in an urgent appeal for a radical transformation of the energy sector, before it’s too late. There’s “no credible pathway to 1.5c in place” today the UN environmental programme (UNEP) insisted in a new report despite legally binding promises made at the 2015 Paris climate conference to prevent average temperatures risen more than 1.5c above pre-industrial levels
Uncomfortable Truth
“This report tells us in cold scientific terms what nature has been telling us all year through deadly floods, storms and raging fires: We have to stop filling our atmosphere with greenhouse gases, and stop doing it fast”. Said Inger Andersen Executive director of UNEP.
“We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is over only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster”.Despite Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) promises made by the governments in favour of reducing their carbon footprint, pledges made since the last climate summit in Glasgow in 2021 will lead cuts of less than one percent of projected 2030 greenhouse gas emission, according to UNEP.
Paltry reductions
This is the equivalent of just O.5 gigatonnes of C02, UNEP calculated, adding that only a 45 percent emission reduction will limit global warming to 1.5c. As it stands today, latest data indicates that the world is on track for a temperature rise of between 2.4c and 2.6c by the end of this country. “In the best case scenario, full implementation of unconditional NDCs and additional net – zero emissions commitments point to only a 1.8c increase, so there is hope. However, this scenario is not currently credible based on the discrepancy between current emissions, short-term NDC targets and long-term net-zero targets”, UNEP said.
Fossil fuel solution
For the situation to improve, a ’large-scale rapid” and fossil fuel-free shake-up is needed of our “electricity supply, industry transport and building sector, and the food and financial system to cut emissions by 45 percent to limit global warming to 1.5c, and by 30 percent to keep average temperature rise to 2c, the UN agency explained. And although the transformation towards net-zero green house gas emission is underway in electricity supply, industry, transportation and buildings, it needs to move “much faster”, the report concludes.
If found that electricity supply transformation had made most progress in some countries, amid dramatically reduced renewable electricity prices. “It is a full, and some world say impossible order, to reform the global economy and almost have greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but we must try”, Said Ms. Andersen. Every fraction of a degree matter to vulnerable communities, to species and ecosystems, and to every one of us”.
Food system reform
Rapid and lasting emission cuts are needed in food production industries too, as this accounts for about a third of greenhouse gases, UNEP continued.
It noted that action in four areas – of production of natural ecosystem, dietary changes, improvements in farm food production and decarbonization of food supply chain-would reduce food system emissions by 2050 to around a third of current levels.