With greenhouse gas emissions on the rise, a safe climate becomes more elusive.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) published on Tuesday, reports of increasing emission levels.
The authors of the report state that collective efforts are not being made to slow down the global GHG emissions. In the last decade, global emissions have increased by 1.5 percent annually. Only through transformational rapid steps can the problem be addressed, state the authors.
To meet the Paris Agreement goals to limit heat to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030, the global pollution levels should have been cut by half in 2018. But this is not so.
The Emissions Gap annual report states that current policies will bring in climate pollution to 60 billion metric tons by 2030. But to keep global heating limits within 1.5 degrees, it has to be at 25 billion tons. We are at levels that are double of what it should be, says Santa Barbara from the University of California, where she is the assistant professor of political science.
A decade ago, the G20 nations made an agreement to discontinue the practice of fossil-fuel subsidies. However, in practice, only a few countries have come forward to provide the UN Climate Administration with a proper timeline to meet the greenhouse gas emission problem. None of the G20 nations come under the list, though they contribute to 80 percent of the emissions, says the report.
Some of the key emitters are the U.S., Brazil, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and South Korea. The UN has provided specific recommendations to these countries to reduce the gap between recommended emission levels and the actual levels.
China continues to be on a coal-plant binge and has to ban its coal-fired power plants, while the U.S. should also bring in carbon pricing and regulate its power plants. They are major contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions in the world, states the report.
