On Friday at 1pm GMT / 2pm CET the UNFCCC released a Synthesis Report detailing the level of ambition from climate plans (NDCs) submitted by December 2020. By the end of last year 47 parties [75 countries as the EU counts as one party] accounting for around 30% of global emissions had delivered new plans as mandated under the Paris Agreement.
The report shows that while the majority of nations represented increased their individual levels of ambition to reduce emissions, their combined impact puts them on a path to achieve only a 1% reduction by 2030 compared to 2010 levels. The IPCC, by contrast, has indicated that emission reduction ranges to meet the 1.5C temperature goal should be around 45% lower.
The report is available at: https://unfccc.int
Agnes Hall, Global Campaigns Director at 350.org said;
“This report shows that we are very far away from putting nations on a pathway that will meet the goals of the Paris Agreement to ideally limit global temperatures to 1.5C by the end of the century.
Given what’s at stake, this is extremely disappointing. We know COVID-19 delayed work on NDCs, but the climate crisis has not stopped for the pandemic. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us that emission reduction ranges to meet the 1.5°C temperature goal should be around 45% lower.
G20 countries account for the majority of global emissions and yet their governments are still lagging behind on climate action, providing billions to fossil fuels projects. Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea all submitted sub-standard climate targets: their leaders need to wake up and come back with better plans by COP26. The US, China, Canada and other big polluters who have still not published plans urgently need to step up.
Costs of clean energy are falling fast but governments are wasting billions supporting inefficient and dirty fossil fuels. Tougher climate plans, that ensure a just recovery for people and the planet, are necessary, feasible and desirable. Across the globe, people power has shown us that the world is looking for climate action and answers, not more excuses and delays.
We need a just recovery from the global health pandemic, ensuring that the solutions to the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 must also be the solutions to the climate crisis. A Just recovery means rebuilding our economy in a way that works for the many, not just the already-wealthy few. It means guaranteeing universal access to healthcare, education, and a clean environment as basic human rights. It means creating millions of good-paying jobs in industries that don’t hurt the environment and don’t pollute our communities. It means stopping funding fossil fuels and equitable solutions to the climate crisis so that no member of our society will be forgotten or unjustly bear the costs of climate change. “