UNEP report highlights gap between global emissions and 2°C warming limit

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned today (5 November) that the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions are still much too high to meet the agreed international goal of holding global warming below 2°C.

Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said: ''This is yet another call for climate action which shows the world is not getting its act together fast enough. The bad news of the report released today is that current carbon cuts are too slow to prevent dangerous climate change. But the good news is that we have options to close the gap although time is running out. And some of them are just a no-brainer: energy efficiency, renewable energy and fossil fuel subsidy reform. The report also shows that developing countries already account for about 60% of global emissions, which underlines that the world simply cannot fight climate change effectively without all economies committing their fair share.''

In its annual Emissions Gap Report, released today, UNEP says that countries' existing emission pledges, if fully implemented, will help reduce emissions to below the business-as-usual level in 2020, but not to a level consistent with the 2°C limit, thus leaving a considerable and growing 'emissions gap'.

To help bridge the gap, the European Union will be pressing at next week's Warsaw climate conference for progress towards concrete measures to raise the ambition of near-term global climate action in order to cut world emissions further before 2020.

The full report can be downloaded here.

Share this article: