UN climate report calls for emission cuts now

‘We need to catch up on the years in which we procrastinated,’ says UN agency head

The latest UN Emissions Gap Report praises protesters like these Illinois Youth Climate Strike marchers at Chicago’s Federal Plaza in September. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

The 10th edition of a United Nations report on greenhouse-gas emissions calls for immediate, annual reductions throughout the next decade to minimize climate change by 2030.

The UN Environment Programme’s 2019 Emissions Gap Report, formally released Tuesday, says that emissions need to fall by 7.6 percent a year over the next decade for the world to get back on track toward the goal of limiting temperature rises to close to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

According to a UN news release, “If the world warms by more than 1.5 degrees, we will see more frequent, and intense, climate impacts … such as the heatwaves and storms witnessed in recent years.”

“Our collective failure to act early and hard on climate change means we now must deliver deep cuts to emissions,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme. “We need quick wins to reduce emissions as much as possible in 2020, then stronger nationally determined contributions to kick-start the major transformations of economies and societies. We need to catch up on the years in which we procrastinated,” she added. “If we don’t do this, the 1.5°C goal will be out of reach before 2030.”

Countries around the world are expected to increase their commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions a year from now in December 2020 at a UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. But Andersen said the world can’t wait that extra year and new emission reductions are called for immediately.

“The lead, however, must be taken by the world’s most developed economies (the G20), which contribute some 78 per cent of all emissions,” according to the UN news release. “Currently, only five of these countries have committed to a long-term zero emissions target.”

President Trump, however, announced early in his administration that he would pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, and he formally began the yearlong process of withdrawing the country from the agreement earlier this month. That would remove the nation from the agreement before next year’s UN Climate Conference.

President Trump has initiated the formal process to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

The report points out that global emissions stabilized briefly in the middle of the current decade, but have resumed a persistent rise: “There is no sign of GHG emissions peaking in the next few years; every year of postponed peaking means that deeper and faster cuts will be required,” it states. “By 2030, emissions would need to be 25 percent and 55 percent lower than in 2018 to put the world on the least-cost pathway to limiting global warming to below 2 ̊C and 1.5°C respectively.”

The new report nonetheless emphasizes that “it is possible to reach the 1.5 degree goal by 2030; the technology exists, and there is increased understanding of the additional benefits of climate action, in terms of health and the economy. Many governments, cities, businesses and investors are engaged in ambitious initiatives to lower emissions.”

“The summary findings are bleak,” the report states, while trying to remain optimistic. “Countries collectively failed to stop the growth in global GHG emissions, meaning that deeper and faster cuts are now required. However, behind the grim headlines, a more differentiated message emerges from the 10-year summary. A number of encouraging developments have taken place and the political focus on the climate crisis is growing in several countries, with voters and protestors, particularly youth, making it clear that it is their No. 1 issue. In addition, the technologies for rapid and cost-effective emission reductions have improved significantly.”

Following the lead of Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg, Illinois Youth Climate Strike has staged a series of protest marches, with another set for Friday in Chicago and another the week after. In Illinois, they’ve made an issue of the Clean Energy Jobs Act, still pending in the General Assembly after it was not taken up during the legislature’s fall veto session.

In spite of Trump’s U.S. declaration that he’ll be pulling the country out of the Paris Agreement, the new UN report specifically called on the United States to “introduce regulations on power plants, clean-energy standards, and carbon pricing to achieve an electricity supply that is 100 per cent carbon-free,” to “implement carbon pricing on industrial emissions,” to “strengthen vehicle and fuel economy standards to be in line with zero emissions for new cars in 2030,” and to “implement clean-building standards so that all new buildings are 100 percent electrified by 2030.”

“Because of climate procrastination which we have essentially had during these (past) 10 years, we are looking at a 7.6 per cent reduction every year" in emissions, Andersen said. "Is that possible? Absolutely. Will it take political will? Yes. Will we need to have the private sector lean in? Yes. But the science tells us that we can do this.”