Environment & Energy

Climate change: UN report says planet to warm by 3.1 C without greater action
By Gloria Dickie
October 24, 2024 5:44 PM EDT

Summary

• Current policies could lead to 3.1 C warming by 2100
• Nations to discuss updated emissions strategies at COP29 in Azerbaijan
• 1.5 C target likely out of reach without climate overshoot

TORONTO, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Current climate policies will result in global warming of more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, according to a United Nations report on Thursday, more than twice the rise agreed to nearly a decade ago.

The annual Emissions Gap report, which takes stock of countries' promises to tackle climate change compared with what is needed, finds the world faces as much as 3.1 C (5.6 F) of warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100 if governments do not take greater action on slashing planet-warming emissions.

Governments in 2015 signed up to the Paris Agreement and a cap of 1.5 C (2.7 F) warming to prevent a cascade of dangerous impacts.

"We're teetering on a planetary tight rope," U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a speech on Thursday. "Either leaders bridge the emissions gap, or we plunge headlong into climate disaster".

…