The world needs more urgent climate action

If there is one word that best describes the state of the world’s pledges to contain global warming, it is this: Insufficient. This grim reality was reported in the released on Wednesday. This United Nations (UN) study found that the world is still short of the Paris Agreement goals (2015), with no credible pathway to a 1.5°C temperature increase cap in place. Only an urgent system-wide transformation in high carbon-emitting sectors such as electricity supply, industry, transport, buildings and financial systems can avoid an accelerating climate disaster. And this looks unlikely. The report considered the total commitments — the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — by 193 countries and found that while governments have begun bending the curve of the warming trajectory, the planet was still on course for around a 2.5°C rise in average temperatures by the end of the century. The current commitments will increase emissions by 10.6% by 2030 compared to 2010 — lower than a similar estimate last year that pegged the rise at 13.7%.

The report comes days ahead of the crucial COP27 meeting in Egypt, and it is clear that much more needs to be done. As UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres correctly put it, the emissions report shows a gap in commitments, promises and action. The developed world has to do much of the heavy lifting by sticking to its climate commitments, reducing dependence on fossil fuel, investing massively in renewables, and, most crucially, enabling developing countries to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis by providing adequate and timely finance and clean technology.