The world is far off track on its 2015 pledge to curb global warming
With the world far off track on its 2015 pledge to curb global warming, a new United Nations report central to upcoming climate negotiations details how quickly and deeply energy and financial systems must change to get back on a safer path.
“The window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all is rapidly closing,” Friday’s report warned.
The globe has to cut its emissions of heat-trapping gases by 43% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, and 60% by 2035, the report said. To get there, the report said, “the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels is required,” using a phrase international climate negotiators have shied away from before. It also said phasing out the internal combustion engine would be a huge help.
And the way money flows — such as investments, subsidies, loans, grants and payments for people and places hurt by warming’s extreme weather — also has to change, the report recommended. It said countries need to stop $450 billion in annual subsidies for coal, oil and natural gas.
“Halting and reversing deforestation” and adopting better crop-growing practices are critical to fighting climate change, the report said. It noted that about 95% of deforestation is in the tropics, but global consumers drive the tree loss.
“We must urgently disrupt business as usual and unite like never before to move from ambition to action and from rhetoric to real results,” upcoming international climate negotiations president Sultan Al Jaber said in a statement.
The first of its kind report, called the “global stocktake” on climate-fighting efforts, put such an emphasis on change that it used variations of the word “transform” more than 50 times in 47 pages.
“The report really puts a spotlight on that kind of transformation of systems that needs to take place,” said David Waskow, international climate initiative director at the World Resources Institute.
