New research shows 64 countries cut their fossil CO2 emissions during 2016-2019, but the rate of reduction needs to increase tenfold to meet the Paris Agreement aims to tackle climate change.
Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions still need to decrease tenfold to avoid a climate emergency, scientists warn, despite a global fall in 2020 due to Covid-19.
An international team of experts has performed a global stocktake of humanity s progress towards the Paris Agreement – which aims to keep the global average temperature rise to well below 3.6ºF (2°C), compared to pre-industrial levels.
They found global CO2 emissions fell by around 2.6 billion tonnes in 2020, a decrease of about 7 per cent from 2019 levels.
This fall – the largest decrease observed to date – was due to reduced human activity under the lockdowns intended to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Mar 03 2021 Read 1108 Times
New research shows 64 countries cut their fossil CO2 emissions during 2016-2019, but the rate of reduction needs to increase tenfold to meet the Paris Agreement aims to tackle climate change.
This first global stocktake by researchers at the
University of East Anglia (UEA),
Stanford University and the
Global Carbon Project examined progress in cutting fossil CO2 emissions since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015. Their results show the clear need for far greater ambition ahead of the important UN climate summit in Glasgow in November (COP26).
The annual cuts of 0.16 billion tonnes of CO2 are only 10 per cent of the 1-2 billion tonnes of CO2 cuts that are needed globally every year to tackle climate change.
A tenfold increase in the level of cuts of fossil fuel emissions is needed to tackle the climate crisis, a study warns.
Research from the University of East Anglia (UEA), Stanford University and the Global Carbon Project suggests that growth in fossil fuel carbon pollution was already faltering before Covid-19 lockdowns saw emissions tumble.
But far greater ambition is needed ahead of a key UN climate summit in Glasgow in November, the researchers warned.
Their analysis looked at what has happened to global carbon emissions since the Paris climate accord was agreed in late 2015.
The Paris Agreement committed countries to limiting temperature rises to “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to curb warming to 1.5C to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change.
Even the cuts many nations have already made and targets they’ve already met are woefully inadequate.
This image provided by the European Space Agency shows the glacier section that broke off the fjord called Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (bottom) which is roughly 50 miles long and 12 miles wide. The glacier is at the end of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream, where it flows off land and into the ocean. Scientists with National Geological Survey see it as evidence of rapid climate change leading to the disintegration of the Arctic’s largest remaining ice shelf. (European Space Agency via AP)
(CN) A new report suggests that while some countries have successfully cut their CO2 emissions the past few years, those cuts need to increase 10 times over before the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement are met.