Greenhouse gas emissions of China and India, two of the top three emitters, grew by 5.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively in the year 2023, a new UN report revealed on Thursday.
It said the global emissions in 2023 was 1.3 per cent higher than the previous year.
The Emissions Gap Report, an annual publication of the UN Environment Programme, warned that the Paris Agreement objective of keeping global rise in temperatures to within 1.5 degree Celsius would be “gone within a few years” and even the 2 degree Celsius threshold would be in danger of being breached, unless countries dramatically scale up their climate actions to reduce global emissions in two years.
The report, which is released just ahead of climate change conference every year, said current climate actions, even in the most optimistic scenario, could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by only 10 per cent by 2030 on 2019 levels, when the bare minimum required to keep the 1.5 degree target in sight was 42 per cent reduction. The reductions must increase to 57 per cent by 2035.
As such, the updated climate action plans which every country has to submit by next year, must be significantly stronger than the current ones, the report said. However, global emissions are still on the rise. The report said a sharp turnaround, with at least a 7.5 per cent reduction every year till 2035, was essential to keep the 1.5 degree target alive.
The report called for a massive increase in investment in emissions reductions. It said the emissions gap for 2030 and 2035 could still be bridged at the cost of US$ 200 per ton of CO2 equivalent. At this cost, about 31 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent could potentially be reduced from annual emissions by 2030, more than the nearly 28 billion CO2 equivalent that is required for 1.5 degree goal.
In three weeks, countries are scheduled to assemble for the annual climate conference in Baku where delegates will discuss a major scale-up of financial resources for climate action.
“Every fraction of fossil fuel emissions is pushing us closer to catastrophe. The findings of Emissions Gap Report are alarming yet again, while political inaction threatens to lock in irreversible damage,” said Harjeet Singh, Climate Activist and Global Engagement Director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.
