New climate pledges barely affect global heating: UN

New climate pledges barely affect global heating: UN

Part of: Prelims and GS III – Environment

Context According to the UN, the number of emissions pledges around the COP26 climate summit will likely do little to slow global warming.

• It has urged nations to sharply accelerate their greenhouse gas cuts this decade.

Key takeaways 

• Nations have presented a range of new and enhanced commitments in recent weeks as the UN climate summit sets its sights on limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
  • India has also vowed to be carbon neutral by 2070.
• Nationally determined contributions, or NDCs of countries are very far off from the target which has put Earth on course to warm a “catastrophic” 2.7 degrees Celsius this century.
• Besides, a fresh assessment of their new pledges by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) found the outcome was “very similar”, largely because the most ambitious emissions cuts are envisaged after 2030.
• The report highlights the challenges facing climate negotiations because of the yawning gap between the emissions cuts needed this decade to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and the continuing increases in greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere.
• UNFCCC said that countries’ renewed NDCs would see emissions climb 13.7% by 2030 before sharply declining thereafter.
• To keep in line with 1.5C, emissions must instead fall 45% by then.