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UNEP report signals unprecedented momentum for climate agreement in Paris

Xinhua, November 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Existing policies and strong engagement by nations submitting their contributions ahead of the Paris climate meeting will limit anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, according to a new United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report published on Friday.

The new report presented an assessment of the 119 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The report covers 146 countries (including the European Union submitting as a bloc) and up to 88 per cent of global GHG emissions in 2012.

The INDCs represent GHG emission reductions of 4 to 6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (GtCO2e/yr) in 2030 compared to projected emissions under current policy trajectories.

Based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report scenarios, which assumed no additional climate policies are put in place after 2010, 2030 projections based on current policies are themselves 5 GtCO2e per year lower than the estimate of 65 GtCO2e.

This indicated that efforts to tackle climate change, including those taken before the Paris agreement and full implementation of the INDCs, could cut up to 11 GtCO2e from projected emissions in 2030.

"The current INDCs, combined with policies over the last few years, present a real increase in ambition levels and demonstrate an unprecedented commitment and engagement by member states in tackling this major global challenge," UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said.

However, even all INDCs are fully implemented, the 2030 emissions gap would still be 12 GtCO2e, putting the world on track to a temperature rise of around three degree Celsius by 2100, and bringing significant climate impacts.

Further actions to limit global temperature rise to 2 degree Celsius by 2100 should be addressed by all sides in the upcoming 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Paris from November 30 to December 11.

The report said enhanced energy efficiency and expanded use of renewable energy technologies for power production will be critical to close the emission gaps. Other key sectors emphasized in the studies also include forestry, agriculture and waste. Endit