The world needs more urgent climate 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

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 Emissions Gap Report 2022 released on Wednesday. This United Nations study found that the world is still short of the Paris Agreement climate 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

Orange-spine unicornfish (Naso lituratus), also known as barcheek unicornfish or naso tang, swim by a coral reef off the dive spot of Abu Dabbab along Egypt's southern Red Sea coast north of Marsa Alam on September 17, 2022. - Beneath the waters off Egypt's Red Sea coast a kaleidoscopic ecosystem teems with life, that could become the world's "last coral refuge" as global heating eradicates reefs elsewhere, researchers say (AFP)

The report considered the total (and most recent) 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%. India submitted its updated NDCs in August, which includes reducing the emissions intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 45% by 2030 from the 2005 level and achieving 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

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.