Paris accord pledges are ‘totally insufficient’ to meet critical climate targets, scientists warn
While nearly all of the world’s countries have pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, the reductions they’re planning in the short term—over the next 10 years—aren’t nearly enough, leading scientists warn in a new report.
Nearly two-thirds of the pledges under the Paris climate agreement are “totally insufficient” to meet critical climate targets, the report by scientists who have been involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found.
To keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7°F) compared to pre-industrial times, the IPCC has found that global greenhouse gas emissions need to fall by about half by 2030 and then reach net zero by mid-century. The longer countries stall, the steeper the necessary emissions cuts become.
“Time is running out if we are to achieve the Paris targets,” said Robert Watson, a co-author of the report and former chair of the IPCC. [Continue reading…]