Carbon emission reduction 'miles short' of 2030 target - UN
Kyiv • UNN
The concentration of the three main greenhouse gases reached new highs in 2023. Current measures will only reduce emissions by 2.6% by 2030 instead of the required 43%.
The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached new record highs in 2023, the UN warned on Monday, with countries "miles short" of what is needed to curb destructive global warming, UNN reports citing AFP.
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Levels of the three main greenhouse gases - heat-trapping carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - rose again last year, according to the World Meteorological Organization, the UN weather and climate agency.
Carbon dioxide has been accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever, increasing by more than 10 percent in two decades, the UN organization added.
A separate UN report on climate change showed that the 43 percent emissions reduction needed by 2030 to prevent the worst effects of global warming is unlikely to be achieved.
Current measures will reportedly result in only a 2.6 percent reduction this decade compared to 2019 levels.
"The report's conclusions are stark but not surprising - current national climate plans fall far short of what is needed to stop global warming, which is paralyzing every economy and destroying billions of lives and livelihoods in every country," said Simon Steele, head of the UN climate agency.
Both reports come just a few weeks before the UN climate summit COP29 in Azerbaijan, and as countries prepare to present updated national climate plans in early 2025.
Now, "bolder" plans will have to be developed to reduce the pollution that causes warming, Still said, calling for an end to the "era of inadequacy.
Existing national commitments call for emissions of 51.5 billion tons of CO2 and its equivalent in other greenhouse gases in 2030 - levels that "guarantee humanitarian and economic collapse for every country without exception," Steele said.
As long as emissions continue, greenhouse gases will continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, raising global temperatures, the WMO said.
Last year, global temperatures on land and sea were the highest on record since 1850, the report added.
"CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than at any time in human history," the report says, stating that current levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are 51 percent higher than in the pre-industrial era.
Given how long CO2 persists in the atmosphere, current temperature levels are said to persist for decades, even if emissions are rapidly reduced to net zero.
In 2023, the concentration of CO2 was 420 parts per million (ppm), methane - 1934 parts per billion, and nitrous oxide - 336 parts per billion.
CO2 accounts for about 64% of the warming effect, the publication notes.
Climate change itself could soon "lead to ecosystems becoming larger sources of greenhouse gases," warned WMO Deputy Chief Co Barrett.
