Canada to stiffen its emissions target by 2020

Minister concerned global politics may keep Paris deal rules at bay

the standards to be set in Poland are needed to help the world take stock of its progress and and ensure that everyone is measuring and reporting by universally understood rules. That will give confidence that when a country says its targets are being met, they actually are.

Writing the rule book at the meeting this month is made all the more difficult after the election of several governments that are less enthusiastic about the Paris agreement. The U.S. under President Trump is preparing to withdraw at the earliest opportunity — which is in 2020 — and the newly elected government in Brazil campaigned on a promise to do the same thing. The Brazilian government also just cancelled its plans to host the annual COP meeting in 2019.

McKenna said in the current global political environment, the Paris accord might never have been reached.

“I think it would be much harder,” she said.

The Paris agreement, which every country in the world has signed, aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being spewed into the atmosphere enough to keep the increase in average global temperature to no more than 2 C, compared to pre-industrial times, and as close to 1.5 C as possible.

The world’s average temperature has already warmed up at least 1 C compared to the 19th century, and it is continuing to warm by about 0.2 C each decade. At the current rate of emissions, the planet will be 1.5 C warmer by 2052, scientists predict. After that, the impact on human health and ecosystems becomes far more problematic.