— comprised of 19 individual nations and the European Union — collectively are not on track to meet the emissions-cutting pledges they made as part of the 2015 Paris agreement, or the updated plans some countries have submitted ahead of high-profile climate talks next month in Scotland.
Some key nations such as the United States, Canada and the EU have outlined new, stronger climate plans, which if implemented would result in sharp cuts to emissions in those nations by the end of this decade. Other large emitters, such as China and India, have not yet formally submitted new plans, but have announced domestic targets such as peaking greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 or installing colossal amounts of renewable energy, respectively.
But emissions would actually need to fall about seven times that fast to hit the most lofty goal of the Paris agreement — limiting Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. To remain at no more than 2 degrees Celsius of warming, the report found, would require cutting greenhouse gas pollution about four times as fast as current plans outline.In addition, Tuesday’s findings highlight the fact that dozens of countries have pledged to reach “net zero” emissions by 2050.
A separate analysis from the United Nations on Monday of the specific commitments that countries have made ahead of the Glasgow climate talks — known as Nationally Determined Contributions — also found that nations are promising to do more to reduce emissions than in the past, but that the changes are not happening fast enough.