There’s no credible pathway to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to a new U.N. environment report. And if you live in any urban area, you can easily confirm this by stepping outside. See all those cars and airplanes? Obviously the world is not on track to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Which is seven years and two months away.
The report analyzed the chasm between promises countries made to cut CO2 and the necessary cuts to make the 1.5 Celsius target. The verdict? Woefully inadequate.
Related: The world is failing to limit global warming
“The report shows that updated national pledges since COP26 – held in 2021 in Glasgow, U.K. – make a negligible difference to predicted 2030 emissions and that we are far from the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius,” according to the U.N. website.
Instead, present carbon-cutting policies will deliver 2.8 extra degrees of Celsius. Great news for the cockroaches and rats waiting to take over the earth.
“This report tells us in cold scientific terms what nature has been telling us all year through deadly floods, storms and raging fires: We have to stop filling our atmosphere with greenhouse gases, and stop doing it fast,” said Inger Andersen, the executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), as reported by The Guardian. “We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster.”
To date, a one Celsius rise has caused climate disasters in many places, including Pakistan and Puerto Rico.
“It is a tall, and some would say impossible, order to reform the global economy and almost halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but we must try,” Andersen said. “Every fraction of a degree matters: to vulnerable communities, to ecosystems and to every one of us.”
What’s it going to take? The report said government action, changing consumer behavior and redirecting the global financial system are all necessary. Huge transformations in food production, such as changes to farm subsidies, cutting food waste and developing low-carbon foods are required. Then there’s fossil fuel-guzzling electricity and transportation. Meanwhile, the cockroaches are rubbing their filthy little forelegs together in anticipation of world domination.
Via The Guardian and United Nations News
Lead image via Pexels
