UN climate chief calls for action plan at summit

KRAKÓW, POLAND: The UN’S climate chief on Tuesday said the COP24 summit in Poland must produce a detailed programme to move the Paris climate accord forward. World leaders have been trying to breathe new life into the Paris Agreement amid backsliding from several nations over commitments made when it was signed in December 2015.

“Success at COP24 means finalising the Paris Agreement Work Programme — period,” said Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of UN Climate Change.

The Work Programme is an operating manual for the 195-nation agreement, which is to take effect in 2020 and calls for limiting global warming to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Experts warn that the global measure is on track to surpass three degrees by 2100. “We no longer have the luxury of time, nor do we have the luxury of endless negotiations,” Espinosa warned ahead of a UN climate summit next month in the Polish city of Katowice.

She spoke at a pre-summit meeting attended by representatives of 35 countries in the southern Polish city of Krakow. Espinosa termed limiting climate change “one of the biggest challenges humanity has ever faced.

“But, we’re moving in the wrong direction. The International Energy Agency tells us that energy sector carbon emissions will rise again in 2018, after hitting record levels in 2017,” she added. The energy sector accounts for 80 per cent of global CO2 emissions, with most of the rest caused by deforestation and agriculture, so its efficiency is key to curbing rising temperatures. — AFP