World's climate plans far short of action needed: UN

Nations' pledges imply a far-from-sufficient 10% reduction in carbon emissions by 2035

- 

The UN estimated on Oct 28 that nations' carbon-cutting pledges imply a far-from-sufficient 10 per cent emissions reduction by 2035, cautioning that it was unable to provide a robust global overview after most countries failed to submit their plans on time.

With just days to go before tense COP30 climate talks in Brazil, UN Climate Change provided an emissions calculation alongside its formal assessment of national 2035 pledges.

The extra calculation incorporated elements from major polluters such as China and the European Union, which have not submitted full official updated pledges.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week said slow action from nations meant it was “inevitable” that efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5 deg C would fail in the short term, unleashing devastating impacts during a period of overshoot as countries worked to pull temperatures back down again by the end of the century.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell said the estimated 10 per cent emissions cut suggested that “humanity is now clearly bending the emissions curve downwards for the first time, although still not nearly fast enough”.