2023-09-08 17:24:45
Where are we really in the fight against climate change? One after the other, reports from the international community warn of the inexorable warming of the planet. The new report published this Friday, September 8 is distinguished by its ambition: this first “global stocktake” (called “Global Stocktake” in English) is a key document published by the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The purpose of this assessment? Find out whether the world is progressing towards meeting the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which calls for keeping the increase in global average temperature well below 2°C compared to the pre-industrial era, and if possible at 1.5°C. The global stocktake of CO2 emissions is “an exercise that aims to ensure that each party respects its end of the bargain, knows where it needs to go next and how quickly it needs to act to achieve the goals of the Paris agreement”, summarizes Simon Stiell, the UN executive secretary on climate change.
“Global emissions are not consistent with modeled global mitigation trajectories consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature objective,” warn the United Nations, which specifies that the “window” to “increase ambition and put implementing existing commitments to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels” exists, but that it is “shrinking rapidly”.
“We are late on everything”
The first milestone since the signing of the agreement, this inventory of efforts made by States will be at the heart of the UN climate summit, COP28, which will be held in Dubai at the end of the year. It will allow countries to know where they stand and in which direction to revise their climate action plans.
This report is the conclusion of a long process of collecting information from IPCC reports, the UN climate experts, but also from governments and non-governmental organizations. And the message from the global assessment is clear: humanity must emerge from its dependence on fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) urgently.
“In relation to the objectives set, we know that there is no area where we have a triumphant response, we are behind on everything,” summarizes researcher Lola Vallejo, director of the Climate program at the Institute of Sustainable Development. and international relations. A major nuance, the UN is calling for the first time for “a gradual exit from unexploited fossil fuels and not a gradual reduction of all fossils, that is to say including gas and oil”, details Lola Vallejo , who sees it as “very good news”.
List of recommendations
Indeed, to achieve carbon neutrality, “we must transform […] all sectors, in particular by developing renewable energies”, “by gradually eliminating all unexploited fossil fuels”, and “by putting an end to deforestation”, urges the document.
The report also gives a list of recommendations to countries to improve the situation, such as the need to be “much more ambitious […] to implement national mitigation measures and set more ambitious targets” to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 and 60% by 2035 compared to current levels. of 2019, to finally achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 globally.
Unsurprisingly, the text calls on the world to “rapidly” deploy “existing cleaner technologies”, while accelerating “innovation, development and transfer of new technologies, in order to meet the needs of developing countries”. On the financing side, the “strategic” deployment of international public funds remains an “essential catalyst for climate action,” points out the document.
The real signal will be “what comes out of COP28”
A light is emerging in the nightmare of the climate emergency. Positive point, “plans and commitments in terms of adaptation are increasingly ambitious”, recognize the United Nations, even if most of the efforts observed are “sectoral and unevenly distributed between regions”.
To arrive at these conclusions, “there were three technical dialogues between country representatives, scientists and members of civil society,” explains Lola Vallejo. The aim is to review all areas of climate action: reducing emissions but also adapting to present and future impacts, irreversible losses from climate change, mobilizing financial flows and investments necessary for the transition. energy… For the specialist, the real signal will be “what will emerge from COP28”, where world leaders will have the choice between ignoring the emergency and leading humanity towards the unknown, or implementing ambitious policies reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
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