December 04, 2019

Troubling UN report shrouds Madrid climate talks

topic:	Climate action
located:	Spain, USA
editor:	Yair Oded

Tuesday, 3 December, marked the second day of the annual climate summit of world leaders.

Congregating in Madrid, delegates from nearly 200 countries have been hashing out the details of how to implement the goals set by each of them in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Days before the summit, a report issued by the United Nations Environment Program highlighted the urgency of substantial climate action by world leaders, stating that despite dire and interminable warnings - emissions levels continue to rise. 

The report, published last Tuesday, concludes that emissions have grown by 1.5 per cent every year in the past decade. It further noted that the world’s 20 wealthiest countries account for over three fourths of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the U.S. and China constituting the two greatest polluters. The report stated that in order to avert an utter ecological catastrophe that would threaten the lives of billions around the world, emissions must decline by 7.6 per cent every year in the coming decade. 

The onus of reducing emissions, the report claims, should be on the richest countries causing the most pollution. Alas, so far, most of these countries, including Australia and Brazil, are not even remotely on course to meet their 2015 goals. The U.S., as reported last month, has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement. 

In an interview for The New York Times, Rachel Kyte, a former UN climate diplomat, stated that, “Madrid is an opportunity to get on course to get the speed and trajectory right… What the Emissions Gap Report does is take away any remaining plausible deniability that the current trajectory is not good enough.”

But even if leaders were to abide by the commitments made under the Paris Agreement, global temperatures would still be on track to increase by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) from the industrial age baseline, which would not protect us from the worst effects of the climate crisis. An IPCC report from last year stated that in order to stay within a safe margin, temperatures must not rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

The report’s silver lining lies in its claim that despite the ongoing rise in emissions, and the tremendous amount of work still required from governments in order to reduce their carbon footprint, the climate action already taken has slowed down the rate of global temperature rise (which would have reached 4 degrees Celsius). 

Furthermore, while far-right leaders and populist heads of states, such as Donald Trump, all but derail their nation’s efforts to tackle climate change, individual states, municipalities, and communities are taking increasingly ambitious steps to curb emissions. Among such efforts is California’s battle to cap emissions from vehicles in its territories and a campaign launched by cities across the world to reduce the amount of meat served in public institutions (the meat industry currently ranks among the most polluting industrial sectors in the world).

And let us not forget the rising number of grassroots organisations and youths promoting eco-friendly ways of living and calling for immediate climate action. Conspicuous among the sea of bespoke suits at the summit, was Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who pressured world leaders to step up their climate game. 

“People are underestimating the force of angry kids,” Thunberg told a crowd of reporters on her way to Madrid. “They’re angry and frustrated.”

Image: Secretary-General António Guterres speaks with youth attendees of the high-level event on Youth2030 in September 2018. ©UN Photo/Mark Garten

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