A cooling station in Cologne, Germany, offered relief during June’s heatwave, which was intensified by climate change. Credit: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty
The international goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is no longer considered achievable under the world’s current emissions trajectory, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The planet is instead on course for approximately 1.8°C of warming this century, increasing the risk of more severe climate impacts.
“Clearly, we are delaying climate action,” UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said at a briefing on September 1. “When the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was established, we knew what action was required. But we have not acted as quickly as we could have.”
Climate change is accelerating — its pace has nearly doubled in a decade
Nearly 200 countries that signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions rapidly enough to keep the increase in global average temperatures “well below” 2°C above pre-industrial levels. They also adopted the more ambitious goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C. Beyond that threshold, the risk of triggering dangerous climate tipping points becomes increasingly serious1. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that every additional tenth of a degree of warming increases climate-related risks.
The 1.5°C target has remained central to international climate negotiations, despite countries failing to deliver the emissions cuts needed to meet it. The 2021 United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, emphasized efforts to “keep 1.5°C alive.” The United Nations climate summit held in Brazil last year also concluded with a resolution focused on keeping the goal within reach. However, researchers have noted that global average temperatures exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time in 2024. The longer-term average used to assess the Paris Agreement target is now expected to surpass 1.5°C by the end of this decade.
Climate threshold exceeded
Source: www.nature.com