UN declares world is out of time on emissions

The consequences will be catastrophic unless there are immediate large-scale reductions in greenhouse gases, the UN secretary-general has warned.

Steam and smoke rise from the Belchatow Power Station as the open-pit coal mine that feeds the station coal lies below in Rogowiec, Poland. Picture: Getty Images

The world is “out of time” to act on climate change and the consequences will be catastrophic unless there are immediate large-scale reductions in greenhouse gases, the UN secretary-general has warned.

Antonio Guterres was speaking at the launch of a UN report warning that emissions have bounced back after the decline last year from the pandemic.

He said the Cop26 UN climate conference in Glasgow must be the “turning point” at which all countries present more ambitious targets that cut global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, compared with 2010 levels.

The United in Science report, co-ordinated by the World Meteorological Organisation with input from the UK Met Office, says that the reduction in carbon emissions caused by the pandemic has not slowed warming.

Icebergs are seen from NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland research aircraft. Picture: Getty Images

Global emissions in the power and industry sectors between January and July were the same or higher than in that period in 2019, it adds.

Last year’s 5.6 per cent reduction in global emissions had too small an effect on the build-up of the gases to be distinguished from natural variability.

Thilo Schmuelgen/ReutersIn July Germany experienced its worst floods in decades

Guterres said recent extreme weather, including Hurricane Ida in the US, floods in western Europe and the deadly heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, showed that no country was safe from climate-related disasters.

Waves lap ashore near condo buildings in Sunny Isles, Florida. Picture: Getty Images

“These changes are just the beginning of worse to come,” he said. “We have reached a tipping point on the need for climate action. The disruption to our planet is already worse than we thought and it is moving faster than predicted.

“Yet we are far from meeting the goals of the five-year-old Paris agreement. This report shows just how far off course we are. We really are out of time. We must act now to prevent further irreversible damage. Cop26 this November must mark that turning point.”

A woman walks along The Embarcadero under an orange smoke-filled sky in San Francisco. Picture: AFP

On sea levels, the report says the rate of increase accelerated 3.7mm a year between 2006 and 2018 and has increased by 20cm since 1900.

It says even if emissions are reduced to limit warming to well below 2C, the main goal of the Paris agreement, the global mean sea level would still be likely to rise by another 0.3m to 0.6m by 2100. The report calls for urgent strategies to be developed to help low-lying coasts, small islands, deltas and coastal cities to adapt to this increase.

In every year from 2017 to 2021, the Arctic average summer minimum and average winter maximum sea-ice extent were below the 1981-2010 long term average.

In September 2020, the extent of Arctic sea-ice extent reached its second lowest minimum on record.

The US and the EU are preparing to announce a pledge to reduce human-caused methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2030, compared with 2020 levels.

The Times