UN climate chief Simon Stiell said countries had one year to come up with ambitious new emissions reduction pledges to ensure the safety and well-being of people around the world. According to him, this plan is the most important plan in this century.
Stiell, who leads the UN’s climate change organization, said the new round of commitments, as well as increasing existing commitments for this decade, were critical to keeping the world from exceeding the 1.5C warming limit.
“Taken together, these promises will determine how protected your society, economy and national budget are from the impacts of a rapidly worsening climate,” Stiell said in an open letter to the nearly 200 countries taking part in UN climate talks.
The 2015 Paris Agreement stated that countries agreed to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times – with a safer limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.
It also requires countries to submit increasingly large emissions reduction plans every five years, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), with a third round of pledges due in early 2025 ahead of the landmark COP30 climate talks in Brazil.
“By all means, your NDC 3.0 will be the most important climate document produced this century in ensuring the safety and well-being of society,” said Stiell.
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Global warming of nearly 1.2C so far has had an increasingly deadly impact across the world.
To maintain the 1.5C limit, a UN panel of climate experts said emissions would have to be cut by almost half this decade. However, this number continues to increase, largely due to the burning of fossil fuels.
The UN Environment Program warned in November that existing carbon reduction plans in various countries put the world on track for warming of between 2.5C and 2.9C by 2100, leading to catastrophic consequences for humanity and irreversible tipping points on land and ocean.(AFP/M-3)
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