Category: ARTICLE_Report_Emissions_Gap_2020

While the coronavirus pandemic caused a record decrease in global greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, it may also have resulted in more deforestation and fires. And while a similar emissions reduction will be needed every year for the next decade to mitigate extreme global warming, there are signs that national climate action plans could be starting to bend the carbon curve.

The world’s wealthiest 1% account for more than twice the combined carbon emissions of the poorest 50%, according to the UN.
Their emissions gap report finds that the richest will need to rapidly cut their CO2 footprints to avoid dangerous warming this century. The study finds that the global Covid-19 shutdown will have little long term impact on the climate.

The states that set their own climate targets are still off the pace needed to bring down their emissions consistent with 2030 targets set by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to a new report this morning from the Environmental Defense Fund. The IPCC has warned governments must cut global greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century to avoid 1.5-degree Celsius global temperature rise.