Berlin, October 25 (BNA) A “leadership gap” is undermining the world’s efforts to curb global warming, days before presidents and prime ministers from around the world gather for the climate summit in Glasgow. AP.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters on Tuesday that time was running out to cut greenhouse gas emissions and meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement to avoid global warming that he said could become an “existential threat to humanity”.
“The clock is ticking,” he said in New York while presenting a United Nations report highlighting the difference between what scientists say is necessary and what countries are doing to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere.
“The emissions gap is the result of a leadership gap,” Guterres said. But leaders can still make this a turning point toward a greener future rather than a turning point in climate catastrophe. “
The new report from the United Nations Environment Program finds that new pledges by governments to cut emissions raise hopes but are not stringent enough to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.
It concluded that recent declarations by dozens of countries aiming to achieve “zero” emissions by 2050 could, if fully implemented, limit global temperature rise to 2.2°C (4°F).
This is closer but still above the less stringent target agreed in the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming at 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times.
The European Union, the United States and dozens of other countries have set zero-emission targets. However, the UN Environment Program report said the net-zero targets announced by many governments ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow next week remain ambiguous, with much of the heavy lifting of emissions cuts being pushed beyond 2030.
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